Brother brightside
by orangeclad22
Summary: The Hamato clan is a little broken and a little lost, it s been a hard year after the loss of their father, having to step out into the world with nothing but eachother to rely on, but they re getting through it together and their little brother is making sure they don t grow up too fast. Mostly a Mikey centered fic about family, friendship and sticking together . human AU.
1. Chapter 1: Home

Disclaimer: I don´t own the turtles, unfortunately i´m still woring on that one.

So he had known Mona for almost a year now, and sure, he got why Raph was so into her, they were both hard on the outside, soft on the inside, they could talk for hours about cars and bikes and why most of the people in their class could use a stiff kick up the rear end, apparently, but right now, as she was speeding up to his house on her cherished red Harley at roughly a thousand miles over the speed limit, he was really starting to see it.

He´d always figured a guy had to be at least a little versed in romance to be in a relationship, but as it turns out, having a girlfriend was sort of like having a best friend, just with a little less personal space required. And he´d figured it out watching Raph and Mona betting on who was gonna be the first to die in a horror film, or when he´d caught them in the middle of and arm wrestle or fighting over who had the coolest bike.

she had that stiff leather jacket on, the one with the spikes on the shoulders that usually made her look crazy cool, but right now Mikey was just glad he was wearing a helmet seeing as he was kind of a human bobble head right now. It was sort of slick and slippery in the rain and Mikey clung onto her for dear life as she sped up the hill that led to his building.

It had seemed like a good idea when he´d asked her for a ride home, then again, the sky hadn´t opened its flood gates at that point in time and he´d figured that she couldn't be a worse driver than his brother was.

Boy was he wrong. One thing was for sure, he wouldn´t be complaining about his brothers driving for a long time.

She came to a sudden halt, and Mikey swore that if you´d have seen it in a cartoon there would have been smoke coming out of the wheels. He hopped off the bike, and if it hadn´t been for the highly unattractive puddle at his feet, he would have knelt down and kissed the lovely hard stable ground.

He shrugged his shoulders, repositioning the straps of his backpack and figured he´d leave his helmet on seeing as the rain was only getting worse. He pushed his visor up and sent Mona a genuine smile as she kicked down the side stand on her bike, leaning back against the seat with folded arms.

¨you okay from here, Mike?¨ she asked, her head tilted slightly to the side, probably trying to see his face clearly through the silly string thick curtain of rain getting heavier by the second.

Boy, she was starting to sound even more like Raph than he had realized.

¨yeah, I'm good¨ he waved her off with a quick chuckle. ¨thanks for the ride, M, I owe ya one¨

¨anytime, Mike¨ she shrugged, her face melding back into that whatever look that kept her seriously big heart on the down low, just the way she liked it. ¨hey listen, I didn´t get to talk to Raph today before he took off, so remind him for me that he´d better be at my art show on Friday, or else¨ she pointed a gloved finger at him, making him feel like the subject to some kind of investigation.

He shook his head, humored at the fact that ¨or else¨ seemed to be the glue that held those two´s relationship together.

¨don´t worry, M, he wouldn´t miss it for the world, trust me¨ he assured her because it was true ¨he told us like weeks ago that we all had to clear our schedules for it.¨ he said, realizing a little too late that Raph would have probably pummeled him had he known he had just released that highly embarrassing piece of information.

He got embarrassed way too easily, that guy.

He could have sworn he saw her blush a little, but for his own safety he´d keep it to himself and pretend it was the rain playing tricks on him. She unfolded her arms, placing them behind her on the seat of the bike and leaning back against it. ¨that´s good to hear. Just make sure he wears a suit, or a blazer or something would ya? the place where the event´s being held sounds pretty classy from what I hear¨ she said and Mikey didn´t quite miss the hint thrown in. ¨and if he turns up in jeans and his slipknot hoodie when I'm being forced to wear those wicked feminine feet destroying heels, he´s definitely gonna be in for it¨

Mikey looked down at her shiny black biker boots and smiled, trying to imagine her wearing heels. If she was dangerous now, how much damage could she cause in stilettos?

¨why do I get the feeling he´s already said no to this and I´m supposed to convince him?¨ he arched a questioning brow in her direction, seriously hoping he was wrong.

She smiled, somewhat smugly and pushed herself up, tightening her gloves before swinging one leg over her bike and reaching out towards the handles. ¨hey, hey, I thought you owed me one¨ she smirked. ¨besides, Raph´s a pushover when it comes to you guys. especially you Mike. Let´s face it, you´ve managed to rope him into a lot of crazy situations over the years. I have complete and total faith in you¨

And she wasn´t wrong. Sure, the puppy dog eyes worked the best on Leo, and Donnie was a sucker for Mikey´s grilled cheese, but he was pretty sure Raph used up all of his tough on teachers and friends during the day, which just left his soft side for his brothers once he got home. Which made sense, seeing as he was the worst morning person Mikey had ever met.

¨fine, fine, i´ll give it a try¨ he groaned, running a hand down the front of his helmet covered face. ¨but you know the guy, it´s not gonna be easy. He´s been wearing his Metallica hoodie for like a month now. I think he sleeps in it¨ he swung his arms out to his sides, trying to emphasize his point.

¨yeah... that might just mysteriously go missing sometime this week¨ she said through muffled laughter, turning the keys in the ignition with a wink in his direction ¨see ya tomorrow, Mike. Tell the guys I sad hi¨ she called out to him as she drove off in a flash, gone as fast as if she´d rode straight into a portal.

He stood there waving until she disappeared round the corner, a sudden shiver reminding him he was wet from head to toe. But it wasn´t as if he could get any wetter, he was already pretty sure it had started sinking into his skin, so he headed toward the door, stopping to jump into each puddle he saw on the way.

Because who wouldn´t?

They had the best puddles in the world, because they had the worst potholes in the world, and if that wasn´t one hell of a bright side, Mikey didn´t know what was.

He and his brothers had lived in that old apartment for just over a year now, and Mikey knew it wasn´t the biggest place or in the safest part of town for that matter, and they had one neighbor who was a tiny old lady who tapped on their door with her walking stick when the TV was too loud and the others were college students who had taken the term ¨social gathering¨ to a whole other level almost every weekend, but it wasn´t all that bad, and moments like this proved it.

Sure the shower could boil a lobster anytime someone flushed the toilet, he had to share a room with a grouchy morning person now and yeah, the kitchen window looked onto a seriously gross alleyway that smelled like a sewer, but it was where his brothers were. And that made it home.

It was easy to pick out the bad things, but none of them ever mattered compared to the good ones. And Mikey secretly liked finding odd things hidden around the house that had been left behind by the previous owners. They were just little things they found under carpets or in the back of closets, that and the occasional mail that got sent there by accident, but to him they were clues.

Up to now he had a pink glitter pen, a Spiderman sock, a pretty cool looking ring that Donnie had said was one of those that changed color with your mood- but he seriously doubted that because it had always been black, and as for mail, every now and then they´d get coupons for dog food and a monthly magazine about make-up that April had claimed as hers and only hers.

He always liked to think there had been a family living there, with a dog and two kids and maybe they had moved on to somewhere nicer, maybe they had taken a step forwards, moved into a house like Splinter´s used to be, with a pool and a garden and maybe the kids each had their own room and things had turned out pretty well for them.

Just maybe.

At least that´s what he liked to think.

¨-ey! Mikey!¨ he heard someone calling his name and that´s when he looked up, squinting through the rain like each drop were a shard of glass, and sure enough he found just the person he was expecting to see staring back at him. ¨what the heck are you doing, you weirdo?!¨ Renet was saying, rushing towards him, not as gracefully as she probably thought she looked, splashing through each puddle in her brown hugs like she was actually trying to get herself soaked.

Rennet was one of the other good things about living here, and right now she was a welcome surprise. She was wearing brown tights and that´s about all he could make out from underneath the cream fitted parker coat she had draped around her. Her bright blue eyes were subtly blending into the rain and all that could be seen of her hair were the short blonde strands falling onto her shoulders from under a woolly orange hat.

She was standing in front of him now, so close that he´d thought she had been going for a hug, but now he realized she was standing slightly on her toes, probably the only person in Mikey´s life that was shorter than him, and holding a teen titans umbrella with a picture of terra on it over both of their heads.

He looked up at it through his visor and then smiled back down at her. ¨I'm more of a beast boy fan, myself¨ he shrugged and she answered with a confused look before glancing up at the umbrella and giving him a playful shove. She did it with about as much ferociousness as a lazy house cat swatting at at fly in the middle of summer, and even though it probably wasn´t quite the effect she had been going for, it made him smile.

¨yeah well, she may have turned out to be kind of a douche, but she had her moments¨ she shrugged, as if it were obvious. ¨now, can we like go inside now or did you miss a puddle?¨ she teased and there was something in her voice that made it sound urgent, like there was something behind her smile that she wasn´t telling him. Maybe it was the way it didn´t quite meet her eyes, or maybe the rain had started sinking into his brain.

Either way, he wasn´t going to pretend like he was good at understanding girls.

¨nah, Don says it´s gonna rain till the end of the week, I can get them tomorrow¨ he told her and she span around, rolling her eyes with a force that made Mikey worry her eyes would get lost back there one day.

¨hey, wait up¨ he called out, plodding on behind her through the puddles and holding the door open for her. She stepped inside, trying to bite back a smile as he bent down a little and stretched out a hand to signal that she enter. ¨you´re such a dork¨ she shook her head at him, and he was starting to think it was just a natural response around him because she was grinning all the way up the stairs, glancing back at him every so often, the smile finally meeting her eyes.

¨what? ¨ He asked, feeling like he had something on his face.

¨you do know you´re still wearing your helmet, right?¨ she asked with a teasing smile, reaching out to tap a tune on the slippery surface of the helmet. He reached up as if to check, soft fingers landing on top of the hard surface.

O

¨ups¨ he untied it with a nervous smile and pulled it off with a continuous. ¨ouch, ouch, ouch¨ until it finally slid off his head. He tucked it under his right arm and ran a hand through his mop of curls now falling in front of his eyes in a messy jumble of blonde.

She let out a hearty laugh, covering her mouth with her hand as If that was somehow supposed to help with how ridiculous he must have looked.

He sent her his most impressive little brother pout before his lips twisted into a playful smirk. ¨oh, yeah?¨ he challenged and he only had a split second to relish in the confused expression on her face before he shook his head, shaking water all over her.

¨okay, okay, I give¨ she smiled, using up what was left of her laugh and she slid off her hat and pulled it over his weaponized hair instead. ¨that´s a pretty good look for you¨

He looked up, as if that were somehow supposed to help him see his new accessory and tucked his ears under it. ¨not bad, I could get used to wearing hats¨ he said, with a satisfied nod.

Silence stretched between them when she didn´t answer, and it wasn´t uncomfortable, or unwelcome, it was just unnatural, and when Mikey turned to look at her, it felt like it was the first time he had seen her that night.

He had a tendency to notice the bad things later.

Her eyes were soft and tired, dark rings beneath them making her look years older than she had any right to, and no matter how calm and collected she was around him, he couldn´t help but wonder if it was taking everything in her just to do it.

He had only known her for a year now, and even though you can find out a hell of a lot about a person in a year, there was always a hell of a lot you could miss too. Knowing about someone has always been easy, it´s like opening a textbook. You can finish each other's sentences and know each other's favorite things all you like but knowing someone was a lot different that knowing about them, and he was starting to realize there´d always be a part of her that would be a complete stranger to him.

He knew she got good grades, that she knew a good TV show from an over-rated one and that sometimes her dad yelled, maybe at the TV, but they could hear him all the way in their apartment, and his brothers would share those awkward looks that he never really understood. Mikey wasn´t sure, she never talked about friends or home life, only school and TV. Most of her was still in hiding from his point of view. From what he wasn´t sure.

She kept glancing down at her watch, and for a girl who was a flight of stairs away from home with nothing to do but some math homework, that was nothing short of sketchy.

¨so how come you walked home today?¨ he had to ask, glancing down at the umbrella tucked beneath her arm and the keys already twisting around her fingers.

¨beats me. I finished pretty early today¨ she shrugged, folding a stray strand of hair behind her ear and then swiping a hand down the back of her head, ironing out her curls where her hat had left them a little tangled. ¨you know, we weren´t really doing anything because we have this new sub for the week¨ she explained. ¨I waited for my dad to pick me up, then when he didn´t show I just figured I'd walk back¨ she had an airy way of saying things that made him think she was used to this kind of thing.

But he didn´t know that. she lived on the floor beneath his and the only time he got to see her was when they´d run into each other getting the mail or down in the laundry room when it was his turn- which was always now because he claimed it as his own personal chore just for that reason.

That and cooking. Putting his brothers and a kitchen together was like dropping Mentos in diet coke. Quite literally explosive.

¨I guess he just forgot or something¨ she said like it didn´t matter and it hurt Mikey a little bit more than she´d probably ever know, because he knew what a good dad was. And Splinter had been a great one.

So he tried to fix things the only way he knew how.

¨you know, we´re having a movie night tonight. popcorn and junk food and I'm not picking the movie, which I'm told is a bonus¨ he gave himself a mental high five when he heard her laugh, soft and fragile and she probably didn´t even know it, but it was the best laugh he´d heard in a while.

¨sounds about right¨ she smiled, coming to a stop and glancing behind her at her door. ¨well, this is my stop¨ she said with a lopsided smile as she grabbed onto her backpack a little tighter. ¨thanks for the invite Mike, but I have a lot of homework I kind of wanna get done. But hey, i´ll take a raincheck?¨

¨first of all, I checked; it´s still raining¨ he held up a finger to illustrate his point, earning himself an eye roll and a little smile. Another finger ¨and second, we´re not gonna start until like eight, plus you said no one´s really doing anything with the new sub. How much trouble are you really going to get into?¨ he made his point, and if it had been one of his brothers or even April or Casey on a good day, his puppy dog eyes would have been out a long time ago.

She shifted her weight a little, glancing back at the door behind her and smiling at him a little forcedly as he dropped his finger chart. There was something unsure on her face, and it was taking over the side of her that laughed with Mikey and told him he was a fashion disaster when his clothes didn´t match, and that he had terrible taste in TV shows and made fun of his culinary concoctions that always seemed to involve cheese.

And he was starting to worry. Just a little.

¨i´ll try to drop by, okay? if I finish¨ she nodded at him, already reaching for the door. Her keys were in the lock and she was letting herself inside before Mikey could even think up an answer.

¨okay, i´ll save you a seat¨ he smiled, a little forced but it was still meant for her.

She smiled back and closed the door behind her, leaving Mikey speechless and utterly confused, the latter not really that surprising. He _did_ had a tendency to push his crazy suspicions, as his brothers called them, to the side and just let himself beleive he was being way too dramatic.

¨Well that was weird¨ he mumbled to himself, spinning around on his heel.

He headed up the stairs, a little quicker now and looked back to see he was getting everything wet, not just a few little droplets here and there, no, it was as if he were dragging a wet mop behind him. Or a hose. or Niagra falls. You get the point. The building really needed like a welcome mat or something at the entrance, like they had, though theirs was in Japanese and went pretty much ignored by what was left of the little Hamato clan. It always had, except for on those rare occasions where Splinter had caught them at the door before they could get away with it. And on days like this that nagging voice at the back of his head telling him not to mess up the floors sounded a lot like his father´s had.

He wasn´t here to do that now, and the mat probably wouldn´t even be here if it hadn´t been his, but other things had stuck, like having to take your shoes off at the door, or making sure the doors were locked at night before they went to sleep, or even replacing the toilet roll paper.

Little things, I guess you could say.

He finally got to his door, 16b, and pulled out his keys, jiggling the rusty old lock with as much force as if it had been an arm wrestle before finally getting inside. He really needed to remember to oil that thing.

First things first, he thought to himself, kicking off his mud-covered shoes and scooping them up, holding them way away from anything clean by the laces and trying to ignore the fact that he was dripping water everywhere. He figured no doormat on earth could withstand or even slightly improve the grossness of those shoes right now anyway.

He kicked the door closed behind him and then freed one of his aching arms, setting his helmet down on the table near the door, tossing his keys into the bowl with a satisfied sigh before heading down the tiny hall, past both of the bedrooms and into the kitchen. He could hear voices from inside and stopped at the door to rearrange his bag a little more comfortably on his shoulders before heading inside.

¨I'm just saying, maybe we should wait until Raph gets home to tell him¨ Leo was saying in that authorizing tone, the one that meant he was still in the midst of convincing you to change your mind, but was still willing to put his foot down if he had to.

¨we don´t know what time Raph´s gonna be back, besides, I really don´t think he´s going to take it that hard, Leo, I mean I know he´s sensitive about that kind of thing, but he´ll understand, he will¨ Donnie, was saying, and it hadn´t sounded like he was finished until Leo spoke up a gain.

¨you don´t know that, besides, we have enough to worry about right now¨ he was saying and there was the faint sound of rustling papers on the other side of the door. But that wasn´t really a surprise, Leo always seemed to be surrounded by papers these days ¨ we´re telling him tonight, I know that, I just… I need a little longer to figure out how to bring it up is all¨

¨I´d say he´d be mad if you kept it from him... but Mikey doesn't get mad, so i´ll say this¨ Donnie paused. ¨he´ll feel left out. He can usually tell when something´s up, you know that. plus, you seem to be overlooking the obvious fault in you plan here¨ another pause. ¨what do you think he´s gonna say when he sees Mr. Whiskers over here?¨

Whiskers?

What?

Now he was seriously confused.

¨we´ll tell him together, Leo. You´ll see, it´ll be like ripping off a Band-Aid, It´ll hurt at first sure, but he´ll get over it sooner than you think, especially when he sees the cat¨

Cat? If that wasn´t his cue to swing open the door he didn´t know what was.

He stepped inside and found his brothers sitting at the kitchen table much like he always did after getting home from school. Donnie had some sort of gadget in front of him that he had probably been tinkering with, tools spread out all over the counter and a sort of burning smell that used to fill the kitchen back before his brothers had been banned from cooking in it, lingering in the air.

Leo, equally as predictable, had that huge blue file of his tucked under his folded arms, papers still scattered around him and his ballpoint pen resting behind his ear for the meantime. They were probably bills or something, boring grown up stuff.

He recoiled a little at the thought. When had Leo become a grown up? He was barely nineteen. But he paid the bills and drove Splinters beaten up old fiat around and had a job. Did that mean he _was_ one?

He´d never been quite as kiddy and playful as the rest of them, I guess he´d never had the chance. Sure he´d get roped into the occasional snowball fight when they´d originally climbed down the fire escape to shovel snow from the front entrance in winter, and yeah, every now and then, when he´d get home from work really late Mikey would creep out into the lounge and find him watching space heroes reruns with a kidlike grin on his face just like he used to. And he´d make them hot cocoa with way too many marshmallows in it and beg him to let him stay up a little longer. he´d always cave when the puppy dog eyes came out, so he guessed he wasn´t a complete grown up yet.

Leo had just always seemed like the one in charge, ever since they had been kids, back when they lived in the orphanage and he´d fight tooth and nail with the lady who arranged the meetings with couples that wanted to be parents, making it clear to her that either they took all four of them or they took a hike.

After that Splinter had come along, and some of the weight had been taken off of his shoulders for a little while, but now it was just the four of them again, and it was back to Leo having to take charge, and Mikey trying to drag him into his goof-off lifestyle, trying to remind him it was still okay to act like a kid. Even if it was only in his spare time. And they all knew Leo´s spare time was rare and precious and always reserved for them.

He made a mental note to take a colorful sharpie to that folder as soon as possible, and snapped himself out of his thoughts and back into the conversation he was dying to be a part of.

¨Mikey, hey-¨ Leo had glanced up to smile at him, but taking a good look at his brother his eyes widened slightly instead in that mother hen way he did when he was probably envisioning his little brother being dragged out of a river and saved from drowning or something. ¨Mikey, you´re soaking¨ he said, pushing his folder to the side and getting up to walk up to him. He grabbed his backpack from him and set it on the table, trying to help Mikey off with his coat. Then something akin to realization flickered through his eyes. ¨please don´t tell me you walked home¨ he looked down at him. ¨you should have just called, you know I finish early on Thursdays.¨

Well there went his plan of getting to the bottom of things.

¨ Leo, Leo, chill out, bro. Mona gave me a ride back. Raph told me to call you but she offered me a ride and I figured you´d be busy¨ he shrugged, shaking out the soaking wet sleeves of his hoodie. ¨where is he, anyway? He didn´t answer my last text¨ he asked ¨and he totally read it!¨ he scrunched his face up, annoyed.

He hated it when people did that.

¨detention¨ Leo answered, with that face that let him know he was highly annoyed but not even the slightest bit surprised. Mikey looked up at him with round eyes, partly curious and partly wishing he´d never asked. Leo just smiled, albeit a little tiredly and went to ruffle his hair, making Mikey realize he had kidnapped Renets hat when he took it off and set it down on the counter for him. ¨ I guess we´ll find out later¨

¨wait, wait, wait Mona gave you a ride home? Like on her bike? ¨ Don asked, a little wide eyed and skeptical at the same time.

He nodded, faking a little shudder as he recalled the memory. ¨bike, rollercoaster, missile launcher¨ he said, his hands going up and down at his sides like he were weighing his options. ¨not really sure anymore¨

That got a little chuckle out of Don and he was probably just about to answer when he caught sight of the mud-covered shoes hanging from Leo´s hand and raised a questionable brow in Mikey's direction, pointing a finger their way.

¨oh, yeah¨ he smiled a little bashfully, taking them back from Leo ¨so what´s the verdict, doc? Can they be salvaged?¨ he questioned, holding them a little higher.

¨I don´t know what kind of doctor you think I'm aspiring to be, Mikey, but even _I_ have my limitations¨ he was saying, a smile tugging at his lips as he grabbed the shoes from him and headed towards the sink. ¨oh, and you should probably take a shower before you catch a cold¨

¨yeah, I second that¨ Leo was saying but before Mikey could respond he was surprised to look down, getting at least one answer to his stack of questions in the form of Mrs. K´s cat rubbing itself against his trouser legs.

Okay, well at least that cleared one thing up.

¨kitty!¨ he beamed, bending down to pick up the fluffy white ball at his feet, bringing it to his chest and stroking it behind the ears. But he looked up to see that his brothers weren´t smiling like he was, they weren´t smiling at all for that matter and he was pretty sure he´d just pieced together the clues.

He had known Mrs. K for a year now, and sure they hadn´t been the closest of neighbours, come to think of it, Mikey was the only one who ever paid her a visit at all. But that wasn´t her fault, you just needed a couple of tricks up you sleeve if you wanted to get along with her. Mikey had never had a grandmother, but if he had he would never had expected her to be anything like Mrs. K. She seemed as if she were tough all the way through to her center, but she gave herself away every now and then, like when she bugged him about taking so much sugar in his tea, or when she´d poke at him with her pointy nails and tell him he was far too skinny.

But she´d been more help to Mikey and his brothers that she´d ever know, or than his brothers would ever know for that matter, but Mikey knew, and he´d told her after every visit, earning himself an eye roll and a warning to stop being such a softie.

When they´d moved in, everyone had given up a piece of themselves in order to piece their _family_ back together. Leo hadn´t finished high school, but he´d worked his butt off and gotten a job in real-estate, with a little help from Mr. Kurtzman, an old friend of Splinters and a hell of a lot of hard work. Raph worked part time at a garage downtown and Don had a Saturday job at a cyber café, where he´d get paid extra for the occasional computer fix-up. And him, he didn´t do a thing. He was fourteen, and Donnie had had enough trouble getting a job at sixteen.

So he had become the maid of the house. He cleaned, he took out the trash, and most importantly and getting back to the point, Mrs. K had taught him how to cook. He´d somehow convinced her to teach him how to whip together a good meal, and with that she had helped make him useful to his brothers.

She had helped make him feel like he brought something to the team.

And right then he was starting to put the pieces together, and he wasn´t so sure he wanted to be right at that moment. ¨guys?¨ he was glancing between the two of them, wondering who would crack first, and his brothers had that sad worried look on their face like they thought Mikey was the one who was hurt.

Leo took a step towards him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

¨how about you get showered and changed first, and then we´ll talk? How´s that sound?¨

It sounds like you´re trying to put it off for as long as you possibly can, he couldn´t help but think. If it was taking this long he was pretty sure he already had his answer.

¨she´s dead¨ he dropped his eyes to the ground, not wanting to see the look on his brother´s face, his arms tightening around the purring cat in his arms ¨isn´t she?¨

The room fell into a long silence and this one definitely _was_ the uncomfortable kind.

¨yeah, Mikey. Yeah¨ Leo had that sad look on his face and Mikey really didn´t want to look up and see it staring down at him, aimed at him. ¨I´m really sorry, buddy.¨ he soothed, in a way only Leo knew how and Mikey let go of the cat, setting it down

¨what happened?¨ he asked, and he wouldn´t look up, not now that his eyes were starting to sting with unshed tears. He wouldn´t let them see.

¨nothing happened, Mikey. She was old, she had a long life, these things…¨Donnie paused through his explanation, taking a shaky step forwards. ¨they just happen, Mikey. She just went to sleep, and-¨

And never woke up.

The first traitor tear made it´s way down his cheek and before he could even reach up and wipe it away, Leo was striding forwards, enveloping him in a strong hug, and the arms around him would have felt like a shield if they hadn´t been so gentle. Mikey buried his face in his brother's chest out of habit, and he would have stayed there until he had cried himself dry any other day, but right then he just wanted to get his mind off of things, he needed something to do, so he pulled back, and he tried to smile, he really did, but by the look on his brothers faces he´d say he failed miserably.

¨I think i´ll go take that shower now¨ he said, wiping his eyes with the hem of his sleeve, probably getting himself even wetter if anything. Leo placed a finger under his chin, pulling mikeys gaze back up to land on his. ¨listen, we´re right here if you need anything, got that? you know that, right?¨

He managed a nod and grabbed his things from off of the countertop. headed straight for his and Raph´s shared room, closing the door behind him.

Leaning against the door, he couldn´t help but take in the clear contrast between both sides of the room. It was like an invisible line had been drawn down the middle of it, separating his from Raphs. Raph´s bed was covered with a dark red bedspread, covered in black lightning bolts, whereas Mikey´s was topped with a fuzzy orange blanket, various cartoon-themed throw pillows and a raggedy old duct tape covered teddy bear called chocolate chip, that he´d claimed as his back when they lived at the orphanage.

Then they each had their own wall by their bed covered in posters and photographs. Raph´s side consisted mostly of rock and heavy metal band posters: ACDC, slipknot, and then there was the occasional photo of his brothers and the new addition of a selfie with Mona kissing his cheek, the first photo those two had ever taken together before they were even a thing yet and the surprised look on Raph´s face really was priceless.

Mikey´s side, obviously, was the complete opposite. A messy collage of family photos and the occasional photo with a friend, a jumble of birthday cards he insisted on keeping and cartoon, comic or movie posters.

They had a set of drawers by the window that they shared, but they kept most of their clothes folded up in these labeled plastic boxes they kept under their beds.

Leo hadn´t really thought it through when he had given Raph a room with a fire escape, though, that was for sure. Sure, his hot-headed brother had never exactly been the obedient type, but after master Splinter died he´d lost it completely, he´d go on nightly outings with Casey almost every night, running into his fair share of purple dragons, and coming home with bruises and excuses and the fight that ensured between him and Leo would be so bad, that sometimes he´d find himself needing the fire escape too. He wouldn´t go anywhere, he´d just sit there, looking out across the city and hoping that things would be better when he dare go back inside.

And that´s how Raph found him when he got home that night, sat with his back against the wall, numb to the cold in his drenched hoodie and dripping socks with his knees curled into his chest and head sunk deep in his arms. ¨I thought I'd find you out here¨ his head shot up at his deep voice and his usual steel faced big brother was looking at him wide-eyed, his face scrunched up in a look of worry that really didn´t suit him.

And all Mikey did was fake a smile, grinning up at him, because after all, he´d be fine, he just needed a minute to convince himself.

¨Mikey, you idiot! What do you think you´re doing?¨ he scolded, falling to his knees in front of his brother with an annoyed grunt as he shrugged off his coat, hurriedly draping it over his damp shoulders as if he were some sort of ticking time bomb.

¨nice to see you too, Raph¨ he smirked, pulling the huge coat a little tighter around himself as Raph sat by his side, draping an arm around his shoulder and rubbing his arms as if trying to warm him up. ¨I'm not cold, bro¨ he laughed slightly at his brother's futile attempts. ¨pretty sure I can´t feel my feet anymore though¨ he made a face and wiggled his toes, as if checking they still worked.

Because he wasn´t really all that okay, but at least Raph could still get a smile out of him.

¨you´re white as a sheet, you moron¨ he took Mikey´s hands in his, rubbing them as if he were trying to get a fire started. ¨and you´re freezing. Geez, Mikey, how long have you been out here? Do the guys know?¨

¨you know, Mona´s really softened you up, bro¨ Mikey was laughing now and Raph was taking off his bike gloves and slipping them over Mikey´s hands, his face approaching immediate danger, if his narrowing eyes were anything to go by.

¨watch it¨ he pointed a now bare finger at him ¨i´ll still pummel you¨ but he knew it was all for show so he just shook his head , leaning forwards a bit to rest his chin on his knees.

He didn´t really feel like talking, and that was usually okay with Raph, because he´d sit with you for hours if he had to, but he´d never been much of a talker. But right then he could feel his eyes on the back of his head, and his arm was sort of stiff and unsettled where it rested on his back.

¨the guys told me what happened¨ he was saying, shuffling forwards a little, pulling Mikey against his side when he was sure he felt him start to shiver. ¨you wanna, like… talk about it or something?¨

Smooth, Raph, real smooth.

But he didn´t. not really. Not at all.

So he just curled up a little tighter, uncharacteristically dull eyes focusing on the robot pictures on his socks, making Raph sigh a little.

But what was he supposed to say? There was no one to blame for this, no one he could beat up or scare the crap out of to keep him safe, it was something they had all been through before, and Mikey had been broken hearted over Splinter too, just as must as everyone else had been. But Mikey wasn´t like them. He didn´t let things get to him, he was the optimist, the one that held everyone else up even if he was the youngest, and he could see it now, he could see it because Mikey never looked like this, and the one time he had they had all been too depressed to notice.

And where had Mikey been? He´d been filing documents with Leo, looking up technical terms to do with insurance and house bills that none of them understood, and making Leo laugh when he´d make them both a hot chocolate at twelve o'clock on a Saturday night while they scrolled through list after list of the cities crummiest apartments. He´d find these horrible beaten up places, nothing compared to what they´d had with sensei. No backyard, no basement converted into a dojo, no huge kitchen where Mikey would try out one of his terrible culinary concoctions. But Mikey actually made them sound livable. This place had been on the ´rather live on the street list´ for months, that is until Mikey gathered them together, hand drawn pictures and diagrams showing them how it wouldn´t be so bad, how he had ideas and plans for the place that would make it look totally rad. And most of the ideas were outlandish things like having a pool table in the kitchen instead of a real one and bunk beds and painting the living room bright orange. And through everything he´d made it sound like this new life could be something fun, like it could be an adventure.

And it _had_ been in a way, but then he´d had Raph to deal with, practically waiting up for him icepack in hand for when he'd come home from one of his late nights on the town with Casey, looking like something that comes out of the back end of a lawnmower. And he´d sat through countless arguments between him and Leo, dealing with the fallout that continued and lasted for what felt like a lifetime, never choosing sides and never leaving the room, even though he knew he wanted to.

And then there was Donnie, who got himself a job not long after Leo had. After that he´d lock himself in his room for hours, reading and tinkering with his little tasks and inventions. And it was up to Mikey to drag him out, basically force him to partake in society.

And he´d done it all with a smile. Even though he was a little bit broken too. Even though it hurt him just as much.

And now Raph felt useless, because he knew that Mikey would go back inside in his own time and plaster on a smile, and he´d move on with his life because he was stronger than any of them would ever know. But he didn´t want it to be like that. He wanted to make it better. And he couldn't go through life only being able to help out when he could fix things by giving the bad guy a good punch in the unmentionables.

¨I know you liked her, buddy. She was one of the good ones. And she had one hell of a soft spot for ya, that´s for sure¨ Raph smiled fondly when he turned his head to look at him, his cheek pressed against his knee, and he took it as a sign to continue.

¨well, I mean sure, we didn´t really know her like you did, but I talked to her once. She bullied me inta´ carrying her bags up the stairs. Seemed like my kind a lady, not a big talker, ya know¨ he gave Mikey a shrug with a smirk on his face. ¨but she told me you were a good kid, and that I just needed to toughen you up a bit¨ he grinned, quite pleased with the unsurprised smile covering Mikey´s face now.

¨cause, you know, ya did go to her to for cooking lessons, bro. way to man up¨ he added, just for the reaction, which was a jab in the ribs and muffled laughter.

¨I don´t hear you complaining around dinner time¨ he argued, sliding his arms through Raph´s enormous jacket, flapping the way too long sleeves all over the place like a baby bird. ¨and how exactly is that supposed to cheer me up?¨ he pouted, trying to roll back his sleeves.

¨it´s not¨ he shrugged, nonchalantly, leaning back against the wall behind him with folded arms and a pleased look on his face. ¨I just thought it was funny¨ his smirk grew a little wider when Mikey rolled his eyes. ¨but it does tell me that she probably wouldn´t be too impressed to see you looking like this. Especially not over her¨ he added, something knowing and calm in his voice, like he knew that´s all that Mikey really needed to hear.

And it was. Mrs. K would probably be giving him a not too soft tap on the shin with her walking stick and telling him not to act like such a girl if she were here right now, so instead he smiled and scooted back towards the wall Raph was leant against, his arm coming up over his shoulder almost like an instinct.

¨thanks, bro¨ he smiled, stretching out his legs on the fire escape, finally starting to feel the cold, and as a shiver went down his spine and he curled them back up to his chest with chattering teeth.

¨anytime¨ he shrugged like it hadn´t happened, as per usual and gave him a little pat on the back. ¨now that that´s over, you think we can go back inside now? You know, before you turn blue and I have to call the doctor on ya¨ he threatened playfully, but a Doctor Donnie was no joke. That guy seriously needed to take his own advice and take a chill pill every now and then.

¨sure, but you´ve gotta do me a favor first¨ he challenged sensing a moment of debility in his usually tough as shell bro and taking advantage. you know, because little brothers can get away with that sort of thing.

¨name it¨ he said, eyebrows shooting up a little in surprise, but he tucked his hand into his jeans pockets, listening.

¨you have to wear a suit to Mona´s art expo thingy on Friday¨ he grinned, ear to ear at the shocked expression on his older brother's betrayed face.

¨you little traitor¨ there was a glint on humor in his little brothers eyes right before he burst out laughing, catching him by surprise when Raph grabbed him in a headlock, rolling his knuckles through damp blonde curls while Mikey tried to stop laughing, struggling in his grasp.

¨hey, I'm an opportunist, bro, ya can´t hate me for that¨ he was saying, ripping out of his iron grip and ironing out his curls, his hair now draping over his eyes like an overgrown fringe. ¨deal?¨

Raph rolled his eyes, fighting back a smile as he swept Mikey´s hair out of his face with a single stroke of his hand. ¨yeah, yeah, whatever, ya little twotimer. Shoulda known she´d bring out the big guns on this one¨ he pushed himself to his feet, holding out a hand to hoist him up to his feet. ¨but no way am I wearing a tie¨

¨sounds good to me, bro. I'm totally wearing my blazer though. That thing looks awesome. You know the one with the orange buttons? The one Leo-¨ he started to rant as Raph pushed him inside.

¨yeah, yeah, you have like _one_ blazer, Mikey. And _all_ your clothes are orange¨ he rolled his eyes, biting back a smile as he hopped inside, sliding the window closed behind them.

¨That´s because orange is awesome, bro¨


	2. Chapter 2: of friends and strangers

¨ _wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy, grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit the city. Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack cause when I leave for the city I ain´t coming back…¨_

Mikey rolled over onto his side with about as much energy as a nocturnal sloth, just a lump under his cozy warm sheets as far as the outside world was concerned. He let the annoyingly chirpy song that he had set as an alarm play out a little longer, seriously hoping it turned out to be one of those wonderful days where you woke up to find that the clocks had changed so that he could just lie there for another hour or so.

 _¨tick, tock, on the clock, but the party don´t stop no, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh¨_

¨Mikey, I swear to god, you don´t turn that thing off right now imma throw it out the window¨ Raph warned, burying his head under his pillow while Mikey reached out toward the bedside table, his hand flapping around the room like a fly swatter until finally landing on his phone. He locked his fingers around it and pulled it under the covers with him, successfully blinding himself with the bright screen as he fiddled to type in his pin number.

After two failed attempts he was in. _way to start the morning, Mike._

He shut it off and set it on the table, eventually working up the vigor to slide his feet over the side of the bed, sitting there for a moment just stretching his arms up over his head until he felt something soft at his feet. Mr.s K´s cat was looking up at him with those big eyes that shone in the low light of the room and he smiled before reaching down and picking him up, hopping to his feet as the fuzzball nuzzled into his chest.

¨morning, pussy¨ he cooed, heading towards the door.

¨what the heck did you just call me, Mikey!?¨ Raph asked him, not all that quietly and leant up on his elbows, his glare piercing him even through the darkness of the room.

Mikey just rolled his eyes, looking down at the cat as if expecting the ball of fur to do the same. ¨I was talking to the cat, bro¨ he shook his head at him and Raph relaxed a little, slumping back to his original position beneath the sheets mumbling something under his breath. ¨besides, you´re more like a bear coming out of hibernation in the morning, anyways¨ he added, his teasing side coming out early that morning as he sprinted towards the door, the pillow his brother so eloquently tossed his way hitting the back of the door before he closed it behind him.

Mornings were pretty quiet in the Hamato house, especially while Mikey was making breakfast. He´d get up just a little earlier than the rest of them and have it ready by the time they´d finally dragged themselves out of bed, looking like a seriously hungry threesome of sleepwalking zombies.

And let´s just say that Mikey´s highly upbeat attitude in the mornings didn´t make things any better.

He set his fuzzy new friend down on the kitchen table, letting him curl up in a ball while he washed his hands. He´d never had a pet before, master Splinter wasn´t one for animals, and he definitely wasn´t a fan of cats, he always said they were temperamental and changed moods far too easily. But thinking about it now, cats didn´t seem too different from his cranky roommate.

But he´d always loved them, he just wasn´t sure how to take care of one. He´d be fine, he´d figure it out somewhere along the way with a little effort and a little help, but right now he didn't even know its name. Mrs. K had only gotten him a week ago and the last time they´d spoke she had still been thinking one up. He felt bad changing it if he already had one, so for now he just stuck to looking for something for his new friend to eat.

¨morning, Mikey¨ he span around at his eldest brothers voice as he sat himself down at the kitchen counter, his schedule spread out in front of him and a pen in his right hand.

He looked like a man on a mission, already smartly dressed for his busy day ahead while Mikey greeted him with minion pajamas and bare feet.

¨Leo?¨ he asked, surprised he was up so early. ¨did you like… fall out of bed or something?¨he asked, half joking half genuinely concerned.

Leo let out a halfhearted chuckle, running a hand down his tired face before spotting kitty on the other side of the counter holding out a hand in his direction and making a clicking sound with his tongue, trying to grab its attention. ¨nah, I just couldn´t get back to sleep, I guess¨ he shrugged. ¨so what should we call this little guy, anyway? He questioned as kitty looked up at him, and he stretched his arm out to stoke his head.

¨I have no idea¨ Mikey admitted, drawing out the words with a long sigh like it was some sort of life or death dilemma. ¨last time I talked to Mrs. K she still hadn´t picked a name¨

¨why don´t you just give him a new one?¨

Mikey was pretty good at naming things. But your name was part of your identity, it just didn´t sit well with him to make one up when Mrs. K had probably already chosen one. It would be like if Splinter had changed the names their mother had given them when he´d adopted them. But he wasn´t about to use that example to explain it to his brother.

¨aw, but that would feel so wrong. Like, he probably already has a name. it´s like someone walking up to you and being all like ´you there, from now on your name is Jeff, deal with it´¨ he said, imitating a gruff man's voice for reasons completely unknown to his brother, who was just shaking his head at his little brothers antics with a humored smile on his face. ¨plus, we got bigger problems than that, bro. like what do I feed him? And do cats really drink milk or is that just like a cartoon thing? Oh, and do we need like a litter box or shall we just let him out onto the fire escape? Wait, would he just run away? And what about-¨ Leo cut off his pensive ramble with a wave of his hands.

¨woah, slow down, Mikey¨ he was smiling, folding his arms on the counter top. ¨we can go to the store later this week and we´ll get everything you need, sound good?¨

Mikey tilted his head to the side, eyes squinting in concentration. Had he heard him right?

¨wait, really?¨ he asked, eyebrows shooting up his forehead. ¨like, that´s okay, I'm sure I can just pull something together, we really don´t have to get _new_ things. All we really need is cat food. Like I can use a normal old bowl, I'm sure there´s one lying around here somewhere, and sure, I might have to get a little creative with the litter box but-¨

He looked back over at Leo, who was patiently tapping his pen against the table top, smiling with something warm and knowing in his eyes.

¨I was rambling again, wasn´t I?¨ Mikey said bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck as Leo nodded.

¨sit¨ he tapped the empty tabletop in front of him, and he did, pulling out the stool and folding his legs behind him. ¨Mikey, you know it´s not like it was before right? We´re okay now. My new job pays a lot better than waiting tables did, Mike. That was just temporary, we just had to be careful for a while until we got settled. The three of us, we´re earning plenty of money, so you don´t have to worry anymore, okay? things are really starting to look up for us¨ there was something warm yet stern in Leo´s smile, which meant it was important he understand.

But he still had a nagging feeling in his stomach, a knotting sensation that still made him feel bad about asking for too much. Maybe it was because they had been saving and prioritizing religiously for a year now, or maybe it was because everyone was working to bring in enough money to pay the bills while all he did was cook.

¨okay… if you´re sure¨ he was saying, bundling his hands together and playing about with his fingers.

Round blue eyes, almond shaped and uncertain were locking onto him, and they didn´t look convinced. ¨Mikey, look at me¨ he glanced up towards him. ¨we´re okay ¨

Maybe Leo was just trying to cheer him up, or maybe he was just so used to hearing ´things will get better´ or ´it´ll be okay´ that it didn´t really seem right that things finally actually might be. Either way he smiled and nodded, jumping down from his stool and setting to making breakfast.

¨so…¨ Leo looked for a way to change the subject. ¨what should be add to the grocery list?¨ he got up out of his chair and headed over to the fridge where Mikey always pinned the grocery list to the door with his shuriken shaped fridge magnet. He grabbed it and sat back down, picking up his pen and starting to write. ¨we´re gonna need food, a bowl, the litter box...¨ he stopped, tapping his pen against his lip in thought.

¨maybe we should get him a collar¨ Mikey suggested ¨oh! And a bed, he´s gonna need a bed¨

Leo jotted them down. ¨if we´re getting him a collar you really need to think of a name, Mikey¨

¨but Leooooo¨ Mikey moaned, really not wanting to have to go through the whole ´it feels wrong´ thing again.

¨there´s nothing wrong about it, Mikey-¨ he was saying before a yawning Donnie walked into the kitchen, lazily plopping himself down in the seat next to Leo´s, who gave him a sympathetic smile.

¨nothing wrong about what?¨ he asked, rubbing at his eyes, then reaching down to tug at his sleeves while Mikey headed over to the fridge, scooping up the ingredients he would need to make his famous chocolate chip pancakes.

They´d only really get them every once in a blue moon, but Mikey knew they could all probably use a little pick-me-up after yesterday. And he was going shopping today anyway, so he figured, why not?

¨Leo wants me to give kitty a name¨ Mikey shrugged, as if that was explanation enough and Donnie raised a confused eyebrow, turning to Leo for some sort of explanation.

Maybe Donnie's usually spot on mind reading powers didn´t work this early in the morning before he´d had his coffee.

Mikey switched on the coffee machine and set to making his batter, grabbing the biggest bowl he could find and digging out his wooden spoon.

¨and…?¨ Donnie waved him on, inviting him to continue.

¨well, I can´t change it if he already has one, that would just be wrong¨ he explained, as if it should had been clear, turning around to emphasize his point with an eye roll.

¨Mikey, there´s no way to find out if he did have one, and Mrs. K only had him for a week, he wouldn´t have gotten used to it yet anyway, he´s still a kitten. It´d be smarter to pick one now before she gets used to being called kitty¨ he reasoned, stifling another yawn as he peered over Leo´s shoulder, eyeing the list he was working on. ¨oh, I could use some batteries, if you're going shopping, Mike¨ he smiled.

¨no problem, bro¨ he nodded. ¨and, yeah, maybe you´re right. I guess i´ll try to think of a good name¨ he shrugged, and even though he was still dubious of the idea it was kind of exciting, choosing a name.

The coffee had finished brewing so Mikey skipped over to the top cabinet and pulled out three cups, filing them to the brim as clearly needed and setting them on the table, both his brothers reaching out seconds later for their mug, uttering a quick thanks.

¨you´re a lifesaver, Mikey¨ Donnie had commented, taking a swig of the black liquid, making Mikey cringe.

¨I'm surprised you're not like immune to it by now, bro¨ Mikey mused. Leo got up to grab the milk out of the fridge, pouring some into his cup and doing the same with Raph´s and finally Don´s, sending him a reprimanding look.

¨I don´t know how you can drink that stuff like that¨ Leo shook his head, placing the milk carton back in the fridge and pinning the new reformed list back under the magnet.

¨what, you get used to it, besides I have a huge test today and I couldn´t even concentrate let alone sleep with the noise they were making next door¨ he defended with a shrug and a gap-toothed grin. ¨are you making pancakes? ¨ he caught on the second the batter hit the sizzling pan and Leo looked up like a kid who´d been asked if he wanted ice-cream.

¨yep¨ he chirped, looking back at them from over his shoulder. ¨chocolate chip and everything¨

¨what´s the occasion? ¨ he asked happily, cause there usually was one when a morning called for pancakes.

¨do I need an occasion to spoil my bros?¨ he shrugged, a little grin tugging at his lips.

¨what the heck are you guys so hyped about?¨ Raph was grumbling as he walked into the kitchen, pulling a shirt over his head and sitting himself down in front of the last Mug of coffee on the table, not even waiting for a reply before gulping it down.

He definitely needed it, that was for sure.

That quiet early morning banter Mikey was so used to filled the room as he cooked, pancakes piling up on the plate beside him as he let it turn into white noise, humming a song to himself while he kept himself busy. He left the last one simmering in the pan and made his way over to the cupboard, grabbing four glasses, four plates and the orange juice from the fridge and dumping them all on the table. He shut off the stove and dropped the pan and spoon in the sink, grabbing the plate of pancakes and setting them in the middle of his brothers.

¨bon apetit, bros¨ he announced proudly, tipping his invisible chef's hat at them and giving a little bow.

¨they look great, Mikey¨ Leo was smiling warmly, handing out the plates while Donnie poured the juice.

¨man, we haven´t had any of these in months¨ Raph was the first to reach out and claim his first pancake. ¨I say this calls for syrup¨ he said getting up out of his seat and heading towards the cupboards while Mikey washed off his hands in the sink.

Leo made a face. ¨for breakfast? I don´t know if that´s such a good idea, guys¨

¨fine, to put your mind at ease we´ll ask the chef¨ Raph reasoned, moving away from the cabinets to drape an arm around Mikey´s shoulders, nudging his side a little, coaxing an answer out of him.

¨well, there´s really no point in having pancakes without syrup, Leo, let's be reasonable here. It would be like having pizza without the cheese¨ Leo rolled his eyes but didn't put up much of a fight and Raph gave him a pat on the shoulder before heading over to retrieve his syrup. ¨see, the chef has spoken¨

¨Yeah, yeah, fine. just don´t go too crazy¨

Mikey smiled as just as he was about to sit down caught sight of his little feline friend siting at the foot of the table, staring up at him with those big green round eyes that kind of reminded him of Raph´s when he was in a good mood. Maybe he´d call him hot-heat or biker if he started to develop a temper, he mused teasingly.

¨oh!¨ he jumped, making his brothers look his way, eyebrows raised. ¨I totally forgot to feed him. What do you feel like, Kitty? Milk? That sound good? Maybe I have some-¨ Mikey was rambling to himself more than he was actually talking to the cat, which by the looks on his brothers face is probably what they thought was going on.

¨I´d go with water if I were you, Mikey¨ Donnie advised. ¨milk isn´t really good for them¨

¨so cats _don´t_ actually drink milk?¨

Donnie had that look on his face he got whenever he saw an opportunity to spread his vast knowledge about every detail in every subject in the world ever. And Raph was already running a hand down in face and grunting in preparation, clearly far too early for him to be able to endure a Donnie rant.

¨ya had ta ask, didn´t ya?¨ he moaned, poring copious amounts of syrup all over his pancakes, topping it off with a squirt of whipped cream.

Healthy.

Shooting him an unamused glare, Donnie directed his attention towards Mikey¨ generally speaking, no, they _shouldn´t_ drink milk past kittenhood, which yeah, I know he´s still pretty young but once they have weaned, most cats become intolerant to lactose. The lactase enzyme breaks down lactose in the milk and converts it to glucose and galactose to produce energy. As cats grow older the body greatly decreases lactose production-¨ he was cut short as Raph´s hand flew up to his mouth and he sent him an irritated look.

¨we get it, no milk¨

It was safe to say their morning hadn´t exactly gone as planned.

Usually Leo and Don took the car, seeing as Donnie usually had some science doohickey for school to take in, and it had to be done with the utmost care or he´d destroy you, and they had to pick April and Casey up on the way too. That and, life-threatening or not, it was way cooler to ride with Raph on his bike, always beating the crowded fiat there with time to spare, much to Leo´s disdain.

But this particular morning Raph´s bike had decided to die on him, so after about five minutes of Donnie and Leo complaining they were gonna be late, two minutes of Raph trying to coax his one true love back to life, probably just resisting the urge to bash it on the side like he did when the TV went all fuzzy and another minute of them all trying to squeeze into Splinters old miniature fiat, they were ready to go.

¨morning guys, sorry we´re late¨ Leo had smiled, pulling up to the curb where a bored looking April and Casey were huddling under a yellow umbrella. ¨and about the lack of space¨

¨what are _you_ guys doing here?¨ Casey asked abruptly as he pulled open the back door, April standing behind him with her hood up, clearly not in the mood to be another couple of minutes late for school and soaking wet on top of that.

¨always good to see you too, Casey¨ Raph had rolled his eyes, scooching over as far as he could, practically pressed up against the window with Mikey squashed into his side.

¨don´t mind him, he´s just grouchy cause his precious bike died on him¨ Don explained from up front, riding shotgun thanks to the apparently very delicate science project balanced on his lap.

¨easy for you to say, you´re not about to be impaled by Mikey´s seriously bony…¨ he paused looking his little brother over ¨well, everything¨

He knew it was true, sure, Mikey didn´t have an ounce of weight on him, his metabolism could outrun the flash himself and what little muscle he had had started to fade ever since they´d stopped practicing Ninjitsu a year back. But that didn´t mean he wasn´t going to complain. ¨hey! Are you calling me small?¨ he looked up, pressed up against his older brother now that Casey had taken a seat beside him, both of them sandwiching him like a hot dog.

¨your chin is literally on my shoulder right now¨ he pointed out with an eye roll as if the conversation wasn´t even worth having. ¨and scooch over a little would ya, your crowding me here¨

¨would you rather me crowd Casey?¨

¨yes. Yeah, I think i´d be okay with that¨

The one time that being small could have been even slightly useful and it had completely backfired on him.

¨oh, my gosh, we´re all late for school, it´s raining out here and it´s way too early to listen to your sibling banter, so pull it together and deal with the fact that yes, you have to be a little uncomfortable for the next five minute ride. Okay?¨ April challenged, sending the three of them that warning look that Mikey´s English teacher gave when someone mocked one of her precious classic novels.

She was a fiery redhead that you really didn´t want to mess with, and an honorary kunoich back at their old dojo as far as they were concerned, but under all the harsh exterior and great comebacks she needed to get through a life filled with mostly ´her boys´ as she liked to call them, she was still a girly girl at heart. You could bet she´d be the one to watch old Disney movies with Mikey or help Don study, or fix Leo´s tie for him back when he´d have a million interviews a day, heck she had even managed to talk Raph into asking Mona out.

And as for her relationship with Casey… well…

¨don´t worry Ape, I got your seat right here¨ Casey patted his lap with a sinuous wink, earning a varied chorus of disgusted sounds throughout the car and a well-deserved whack on the back on the head from Raphael, who had started to turn twenty shades of red at this point.

¨not happening Jones¨ April replied, packing up her umbrella and poking the hockey- playing dork in the ribs the its bright yellow tip. ¨now scooch¨ she ordered, hands on hips.

¨April, if I scooch anymore I'm gonna like absorb Mikey¨ he was saying crossing his legs and turning to the side a little like that was gonna help maximize the three inches of space left over for the currently ready to shove them out of the car redhead.

¨okay, guys, not to make things worse but you´re all going to be really late if you don´t figure something out soon¨ Leo advised from the front seat, earning four unimpressed glares sort of like the ones a lifeguard gets when he tells you not to run outside the pool.

It was like they were part of a very intricate frustrating puzzle some kid had gotten for Christmas instead of the action man he had asked for, and was now just getting tired and jamming the pieces together whether they fit or not.

¨okay, you know what?¨ Raph snapped as he was uncrossing his legs, spreading out a little wider with a face that wasn´t happy in a single dimension at that point in time and turned towards Mikey, tucking both hands under his arms and pulling him up onto his lap in one swift movement that made him feel like some sort of tiny garden gnome. ¨there¨

¨a little warning might have been nice¨ Mikey was saying, moving around a little to try and get comfortable and folding his legs on top of his older brother, who right now was the size of the Lincoln statue compared to Mike. ¨and why do I have to be the one to sit on someone?¨

¨simple, you're the smallest and Jones was being creepy ¨ he replied, shifting Mikey's weight a little and wrapping an arm around the front of Mikey's hoddie, his other arm coming up over the top of his legs. ¨would you stop fidgeting?¨

¨did you just call me creepy?¨

April finally hopped in next to Casey, dropping her bag on top of her lap and sending Mikey a sympathetic smile. ¨sorry, Mike¨

¨don´t sweat it, Ape. Actually this could be fun. I´m told I'm a very bony person. I can work with that¨ he looked back at Raph, their faces inches apart, making the mischievous glint in his eye hard to miss right before he started wriggling about again.

¨Mikey, I am so close to holding your head out the window right now¨ Raph warned after a second.

¨what´s with you and windows today?¨

¨why aren´t we moving yet? Leo? ¨ April was saying leaning forwards a little and resting her chin on Donnie´s shoulder.

¨you know the rules. The car doesn´t start until everyone´s wearing their seatbelts¨ he said matter-of-factly, and yeah, it was a Leo rule, which meant no amount of puppy dog eyes was about to get them out of it.

There was a chorus of groans from the back seat as each of them envisioned the crazy contortions it would take to get themselves strapped in. ¨Leo, no offense bro, but I can´t even feel my legs anymore¨ Raph groaned.

¨not so small anymore, am I?¨ Mikey shot right back, earning himself a way too murderous glare that should have been illegal that early in the morning.

¨you heard the man¨ Don chirped smugly from his comfy private seat up front, gesturing at the seatbelt strapped across his chest. ¨buckle up¨

¨oh yeah, enjoy the ride buddy cause once we´re outta this car you are so gonna be sorry¨ Casey threatened as he finally managed to click in his belt.

By the time April had managed to do the same and Raph had dragged his out around the both of them they were finally setting off towards school.

* * *

There were at least six ways that this situation could have been avoided. Literally. He had counted them and replayed them in his head a thousand times while sitting there, and in the end they all really just involved him keeping his big mouth shut.

Mikey had never really been a fan of the school library. It was deathly quiet and any signs of noise or even heavy breathing were always met with one of Mrs. Black´s cold stern glares over the rim of her thick glasses. Sure, he knew libraries were supposed to be quiet, that was the point of them, but he´d been there five minutes and had already been yelled at twice. For sighing! That´s what people do when they´re bored, right?

He hadn´t a clue how his Brainiac brother practically lived in that place, but he was definitely glad he wasn´t there right now. Mikey had always been the sort of kid who gave the library a wide berth, as if it had some sort of warning yellow police tape wrapped around it, mostly just because he knew that if he did study in there he´d probably get bored and attempt conversation with the nearest student and get himself into trouble.

The ironic part was, as it turned out, the library was also where you got sent after you´d already made that mistake. It was where detention was held.

¨Michelangelo¨ he peeled his face off of the table top to look up at a pair of sharp blue eyes glaring down at him from behind a pair of worryingly thick glasses. Mrs. Black had gone from not even knowing Mikey to just down right bullying the kid in under five minutes and he was starting to think it had something to do with his constantly in trouble older brother, seeing as she would mutter his family name under her breath with a roll of her eyes every time Mikey would so much as glance in her direction.

He hated the way teachers did family math. Because one thing was for sure about the Hamato clan, none of them were even remotely similar when it came to character.

She had these really sharp cheekbones, the rest of her features lazy and sunken in contrast, and her hair was tied back in a tight bun. Mikey tilted his head to the side, wondering how long it took her to make sure every single strand of silver hair was perfectly combed back like that. I sort of reminded him of a ski slope. ¨don´t you have something a little more productive you should be doing? Homework maybe¨ she suggested and he sat up straight in his seat, raising an eyebrow at her.

¨not really¨ he shrugged, as politely as possible, which was harder than it sounded considering her hands were resting on her hips and her foot was impatiently tapping against the floor as if talking to him were some difficult exasperating task. But hey, she was the one who was asking him questions and as far as Mikey was concerned he was in no rush to sit down and chat with _her_. ¨I sort of left my bag in class¨ he attempted a small smile, which as was expected went completely ignored.

¨well you have to do _something_. You´re in a library, I suggest you read a book¨ she shook her head at him with a tone that meant she clearly felt as if she were in a position to order him about. And with that she marched off towards her desk, taking a seat in her squeaky wheelie chair and proceeding to type away at her computer.

Mikey suggested she take a chill pill.

He let out a quiet groan, slamming his forehead back down onto the tabletop and wondering who thought it would be a good idea to stick him in a room alone with a woman who clearly had some sort of child intolerance.

But he wasn´t completely alone. There was another one of her poor victims sat across from him, pens and pencils strewn out in front of him as he worked on his homework. Mikey sort of recognized him, from hallways and the parking lot where he´d leave his bike across from Raph´s, and the odd slice of gossip his classmates would pass around like some sort of annoying cold.

He was pretty sure he was a senior, and from what he´d heard he´d gotten himself into a lot of trouble at his last school and had transferred there at the beginning of the year.

The guy didn´t really have the best reputation, but Mikey knew a person's reputation was overrated better than anyone. After all, if Raph hadn´t of been his brother, If they´d have met at school, or even here sitting across from each other today in detention, he would have probably listened to the rumors and thought to himself, jeez this guy is one sourpuss that he probably wouldn´t want anything to do with.

But how people come across isn't a reflection of who they are, just how people see them. It took a little more than first impressions and second hand gossip to get to know a person. And he couldn´t imagine what his life would be like without Raph. Whether or not he was a complete hothead.

He had slick dark hair, shaved at the sides but the middle was tied back in a tiny ponytail at the back of his neck. It reminded him of a samurai and right now, he was wondering if you could pull that off with curly blonde hair and freckles. Yeah… Probably not.

He had soft rosy skin, which made the dark rings under his eyes stand out a little more than they were probably supposed to, and even though he was trying not to stare, Mikey´s eyes widened a little at the white scaring around his knuckles. It made him look like he´d punched a mirror or something, which by his huge arms and tall stature probably came as easily as swatting away a fly to this guy.

But he didn´t look like a brute or anything. Well… maybe he did. But that was only because people tend to pay attention to the things that stand out first, the things that aren't considered ordinary. He´d learned about this thing called a schema in his psychology class. His teacher had said that it´s when you label people using only a first impression and their physical appearance, when you categorize them as being girly or troublesome or a tomboy or a rich kid. And he knew he´d done it before. It was only natural with TV and being surrounded with gossiping kids all day. But that didn´t mean he thought that was _all_ they could be.

After all, he´d read way too many comic books to ignore the fact that heroes usually came from within the people you would least expect. And villains usually had a very messed up past.

But he was starting to take in the things that might have been able to point him in a different direction. Okay so yeah, maybe he´d set aside the fact that he was in detention right now, but he was doing homework, so that had to count for something. Then there was the way he was dressed. Just jeans and a plain t-shirt, the sort of thing you´d wear at home after you'd convinced yourself you weren´t going out but couldn´t stay in your pj´s all day either.

He had his earphones plugged in and Mikey looked under the table to see his foot bobbing up and down to the rhythm slowly. Maybe it was classical music.

¨so… what did _you_ do?¨ he asked, and it took a second but the senior finally looked up at him, his face twisted into something between confusion and surprise. He carefully pulled out his headphones and stopped writing.

¨wait… are you talking to me?¨ he asked, polite and all and Mikey was really starting to wonder what his classmates had been talking about. He had a deep gruff voice, even more so that Raph´s but he spoke slowly and clearly in a soft whisper that reminded Mikey of the sound a match made when being lit.

Mikey glanced around the empty library, smiling a little. Who else would he be talking to? He definitely wasn´t about to make small talk with Mrs. Sunshine.

¨yeah. Just wondering what you did to get yourself stuck in detention with Mrs. Delightful over there¨ he whispered, putting a hand in front of his face and glancing back at her just to be sure she wasn´t on to him.

¨what makes you think I'm in detention?¨ his tone turned into something accusing and Mikey wondered if he´d offended him.

¨aren´t you?¨ he questioned, arching an eyebrow at him. ¨I just thought… I mean, I'm told this table is sort of labeled as the troublemaker's table¨ he shrugged. ¨at least that´s what my brother calls it¨

There was something soft and sad that spiked in his eyes then and Mikey was starting to wonder if maybe he´d said something wrong. The other boy just lowered his head a little, carrying on with his work. And just when he thought he was going to ignore him he spoke up. ¨right… I guess that´s what I'm labeled as too, ha?¨ he said with a bitter scoff, but he was guessing that It probably went a little deeper than that.

He hadn´t meant anything by it. he´d just figured that seeing as they were both in the same sticky situation they could maybe ponder how they were gonna get out of getting yelled at back home together and maybe even talk a little smack about Mrs. B while they were at it.

¨dude¨ Mikey said with a wave of his hands and probably a little louder than he should have, instantly glancing around to make sure he wasn´t being glared at. ¨totally not what I meant. In case you hadn´t noticed I'm here too. And my bro, he´s like the king of this place- which I'm pretty sure is why Mrs. B keeps giving me the stink eye¨ he added a little hurriedly. ¨anyway, that doesn´t mean I think any less of _him_. I only really asked cause I'm bored out of my mind right now and maybe you wanted to talk¨

There was confusion plastered across his face and it sort of looked like maybe he was thinking up an answer when he glanced down at his folded hands. ¨well, I'm not in detention, I just… I never really _go_ to the lunchroom¨ he shrugged. ¨I come here instead¨

¨how come?¨

¨anyone ever tell you you´re way too curious for your own good?¨ he asked, but he didn´t really seem annoyed, he was even smirking, moving his books aside a little like he knew he wouldn´t be getting any work done any time soon.

And seeing as Mikey figured he was on a roll here he was probably right.

¨all the time, it comes up a lot when you have four older brothers at home, but I´ve come to terms with it¨ he shrugged, a bright smile plastered across his face as he leaned forwards in his seat, his elbows propped up onto the table, awaiting an answer.

And that´s when he laughed. Mikey wondered if that´s what Donnie felt like whenever one of his inventions was finally up and running after all his hard work. He actually got the guy to laugh, and it was the best thing he´d heard all day. It was the sort that went along with a shaking head and a great comeback, but it was also the sort his brothers gave him, and that made it matter.

¨well, _most_ people aren´t exactly comfortable around me¨ he said, and he didn´t quite miss the way he stressed that one word.¨ So I rather just get my homework done in here while it´s quiet¨ he said, with that little shrug that he´d seen from Rennet over a thousand times, the kind that was intended to make you believe they didn´t care.

¨dude, it´s the library, it´s always quiet¨

He was starting to see just how much a reputation could affect a person, how out of hand the rumors could really get. It's not like he'd ever purposely kept away from the guy, but he knew people who did, people who told the New kids to stay away from him, and people that made up stories as if they were just a fun way the time, and he couldn't for the life of him understand that. Not now. ¨that kind of sucks, though¨ he pouted a little, a force of habit that made the older boy glance up at him, looking a little curious.

¨listen…¨ he paused. ¨you seem like a nice kid and all… But I'm not really sure why you´re even talking to me. I mean most people round here sort of just... stay away from me. ¨

Mikey was a little taken back by that. How could someone so nice be labeled as someone you had to watch out for? That´s what he was round there. He knew that, and so did the kid himself. And it made Mikey feel like kind of a jerk for not noticing this guy a little sooner.

¨so what?¨ he asked, confusion wrinkling his brow. He didn´t care. Why should he, after all?

He didn´t know him well enough to judge, and it was as simple as that.

¨you don't care?¨ he was seriously baffled now, Mikey could tell and he was trying not to laugh at the baffled look on his face. It was as if he had suddenly turned green or something. ¨you´d be the first¨

¨well… I'm not really in a position to be suspicious, you know. I´m kind of the one in detention right now, after all. Plus, for all you know I could have just punched a kid or glued everyone´s chairs to the ground or set a smoke bomb off in the teachers' lounge. You don´t know. I could be the most dangerous guy you ever met¨ he joked a little, leaning back in his chair all high and mighty, arms folded over his chest.

The raven boy laughed a little louder this time and slapped a hand over his mouth when the librarians typing ceased and Mikey peered over his shoulder to see her staring at them with a disapproving look before carrying on.

The boy held up an apologetic hand, silencing her like a pro as she carried on with her typing without uttering a single world. Mikey was really starting to like this guy.

¨you come here every day, seriously? And you´re still alive?¨ he asked jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the temperamental librarian behind him.

¨trust me, you caught her on a really bad day. She´s not usually this bad. Plus I don´t usually talk to anyone else so she never really bothers me¨ he shrugged and he was still smiling, and his eyes kept finding something else to land on, like the feeling was completely foreign to him.

Which it probably was. Thinking back now, Mikey couldn´t remember having ever seen the boy talking with anyone else, let alone smiling. He´d probably just lost practice.

¨so why _are_ you here, anyway?¨ he asked and Mikey almost didn´t want to answer. Almost.

But he wasn´t about to ignore the fact that he´d actually gotten a guy who probably hadn´t had a conversation with another student in a while to open up.

He slouched back against his chair, drawing out a groan as he rolled a hand down his face before leaning over a little closer to him, his hands creating a tunnel in front of his mouth as if he were about to reveal some huge secret. ¨okay, so here's what happened: Like, it wasn´t even my fault, it was totally unfair. I was just showing this kid in my class how to make paper airplanes, because let´s face it, how can you get to high school without knowing how to make them, right? so I did and then he was like , there´s no way that thing works, it looks totally weird, so…¨ he trailed off, leaning back a little.

¨did you actually throw it?¨

¨well, I had to! The guy was doubting my skills. And yeah, one of my friends who sits at the front of the class who was supposed to catch it totally missed and it flew right at the board. And yeah… the teacher might have seen it and one of my classmates may have told on me¨ he said, internally cringing and the other both placed a hand over his mouth, desperately trying not to laugh.

¨wow. That´s… yeah¨ he was sort of speechless, trying to bite back his smile. ¨that completely backfired on you, didn´t it?¨

¨yep… but hey, I got to meet you!¨ he announced and the boy stared on in surprised, a smile etching its way onto his face slowly and a little hesitantly. ¨well, you know, officially. Wait, I don´t actually know your name¨

¨most people just call me LH¨ he admitted. ¨but my real name´s Blake¨

¨what´s LH stand for?¨ he asked, and now that he thought of it rang a bell. Whenever people were talking about him they called him LH, but he´d always thought he´d heard them wrong.

¨well…¨he said a little uncertainly. ¨it´s sort of just a nickname I picked up from my last school¨

That set off alarms in Mikey´s head and he knew it was probably better not to pry at that delicate area of his life, and by the relieved face LH pulled when he carried on talking, he figured it was the right decision. ¨oh! I know! We can turn it into something else…¨ he pondered the idea for a second, scanning the guy over. ¨I got it, leatherhead!¨ he smiled triumphantly.

¨leatherhead?¨ Blake repeated, looking at Mikey like he was suddenly crazy, or better said, like he´d only just noticed. ¨why that?¨

¨cause your hair is really black and you always wear that leather jacket when you come on your bike- that Raph says is rad by the way. That and it sounds pretty awesome, you´ve gotta admit¨ he shrugged decisively.

LH smiled, and that alone was good enough for Mikey, what came next was just a bonus ¨leatherhead… sounds good to me¨

¨I'm Michelangelo by the way. Don´t ask, my mum was into art. But my friends just call me Mikey¨ he stretched his hand out for a shake and LH returned it gladly. The look in his eyes when he´d said the word friends made him wish he´d talked to him just a little sooner.

And that´s how Raphael found him just a couple of minutes later as he marched his way into the library with Casey not far behind him, fuming at the news that his kid brother was sat stewing in detention. And no, he wasn´t a hypocrite, he just considered detention to be his area, not goody-two-shoes Mikey´s who´d never gotten into trouble before in his life and had all the teachers hooked by his bright smile and baby blues.

He wasn´t hard to find in his huge bright orange hoodie, sat down at the detention table across from that kid from Raph´s year, the one who never even glanced in anyone´s direction now watching his brother with a smile while the kid guided him step by step through how to make ´the world´s coolest paper airplane´ out of a torn out page from his notebook.

He didn´t exactly look like he was being punished, that was for sure. He was beaming, unfazed, unbothered and probably the only kid to ever make a friend whilst in detention, or in Mrs. Black souls presence for that matter.

He almost didn´t give him a clout on the back of his head the second he was within reaching distance. Almost.

Mikey´s head flipped around the second it happened, his hands going up to his center defensively like they used to a year ago in sensei´s morning training and to his surprise LH jumped to his feet defensively. ¨calm down, LH, I'm allowed to hit the moron, he´s a Hamato¨ Raph rolled his eyes pulling out the chair next to his brother´s and sitting himself down.

LH´s eyes went from realization to something akin to embarrassment- which Raph hadn´t really expected of a guy with his rep, in a matter of seconds and he retook his seat just as Casey did on the other side of the table.

¨you´re in for it now kid, he´s missing pizza day in the cafeteria to be here¨ Casey teased.

¨what?! It´s pizza day? ¨ Mikey all but whispered, like he couldn´t think of anything worse.

¨start talking¨ he ordered, eyes locked on his as he was busy rubbing the back of his head and glared at him what he probably assumed was threateningly. ¨what did you do?¨

¨me? What about you? Detention Two days in a row, bro. that doesn´t look too good¨ Mikey said teasingly, leaning back in his chair with folded arms and a questioning raised brow.

¨don´t look so pleased, you dork. I'm not _in_ detention, I'm just here because I heard you were¨ he corrected glancing over at Casey as he picked up Mikey´s paper plane, smiling at it like a little kid.

 _Way too many hockey pucks to the head that guy._

¨wait, does Mrs. B know you´re in here? ¨ Mikey asked, glancing back at her empty desk and assuming she was somewhere putting books away or something. ¨because apparently she´s having a very bad day¨

¨please¨ he scoffed ¨I'm a regular, if she sees me she won´t exactly be surprised. She´ll probably just think I put my foot in it again¨ he said with a shrug. ¨now quit changing the subject. What did you do? ¨

¨okay, what´s this I hear about Mikey being in detention?¨ both their heads snapped up to stare at Donnie who was tossing his tower of books and notepads onto the table and tugging his satchel off from around his neck before pulling up a chair next to Casey. ¨I have like ten minutes left before the biggest test of my life so spit it out¨ he was saying, looking seriously flustered and ready to toss a weaponized book at the first person who got in his way. ¨wait, did you have something to do with this?¨he pointed a finger at LH and the seniors face went completely blank with emotion as he started to gather his things. ¨this seems like something you should talk about with your brother´s Michelangelo. I´ll see you later¨ he attempted a small smile but Mikey´s hand shot out to grab his arm.

¨don´t mind him, bro, he´s a scientist¨ Mikey rolled his eyes and LH sent him a confused look but retook his sea, looking over at Casey for some sort of explanation but just getting a shrug instead. it probably made sense in Mikey´s head. ¨ LH had nothing to do with it, Don¨ he said sternly, as if it had offended him more than it had Blake. ¨we´re not even in the same year¨

Don looked flusterred for a second, realizing he was right. the guy seriously needed to calm the heck down.¨right. yeah, my bad, sorry.¨ he looked over at the boy apologetically.

¨Woah, you got enough books there D?¨ Casey said, reaching over to straighten up the book that was slipping off the top of the pile.

And by the no doubt coffee-powered glare he answered with he was pretty sure he was anything but in the mood for teasing.

¨it´s called studying Jones, and I wouldn´t mess with me if I were you, I've been up all night searching through billions of notes, memorizing thousands of formulas and trying to drown out the constant noise our annoying neighbours were making till like four in the morning . That and I've had three coffees in the last six minutes¨ he was saying, starting to stuff books into his already bursting at the seams satchel.

Casey raised his hands in surrender, leaning back in his chair. ¨sorry I asked¨

¨well?¨ he looked up, still rearranging his back pack, stuffing things inside at lighting speed while. ¨would you just tell me already?¨

¨Woah, Woah, Woah, loosen your collar, bro, he was just getting to it¨ Raph suggested as calmly as he could and Donnie let out a sigh, nodding before dropping his bag on the ground and folding his arms on top of the table.

Mikey took that and the four pairs of eyes on him as a sign to continue.

¨It´s not as bad as you think. Mr. Adams just has like no sense of humor is all. and it wasn´t even my fault, my friend was like seriously-¨ he started to ramble and the two eldest brother sent each other a look, like they knew they were about to get one of Mikey´s very creative far from the truth stories.

¨okay, i´ll play… what self-created drama are you whining about now?¨ Raph rolled his eyes, aiming for a clear explanation and Mikey just pouted, sinking into his chair until his chin was level with the edge of the table.

Raph laughed a little, grabbing his arm and dragging him up again. ¨come back, buddy, we don´t bite¨

¨just tell us, Mikey. it doesn´t matter now either way, as far as the school is concerned in ten minutes you´ll have made up for it, it´s not like you´ve done this sort of thing before. And as for Leo… We´ll figure it out later¨ Donnie smiled, that warm lopsided thing reserved for little brothers that meant he´d whip up a couple of excuses and a way out.

Raph had one of those too, but it usually came with a price. And it was less warm and lopsided than smirky and two-faced because Mikey´s favor was usually way bigger in comparison.

¨all I did was throw a paper plane at the blackboard while the teacher was you know… teaching. But in my defense, it was a seriously boring class and my friend was supposed to catch it but missed. And that guys´ on the volleyball team¨

¨really? That´s your best defense?¨ Raph raised an eyebrow at him, biting back a smile and most likely a sarcastic comment.

¨that´s it? thank god, I thought it was something serious¨ Donnie looked relieved, his shoulders relaxing a little as he checked his wrist watch for the time, even though he was probably already a couple of minutes late.

¨excuse me, 30 minutes alone with Mrs. delightful over there is very serious. I´m pretty sure she´s secretly hoping I get sent in here more often just so she can glare at me some more¨ he pointed a finger back towards Mrs. B´s still empty desk, seriously hoping it would stay that way.

¨trust me kiddo, it´s kind of hard to get on her good side¨ Raph chuckled, running a hand through Mikey´s mop of curls. ¨the trick is to grab a book, pretend to read, and shoot spit balls at the ceiling with a pen while she´s not looking¨ he looked over at Casey who returned his smirk, then his eyes shot open in realization a little and he looked back down at a grinning Mikey.

¨scratch that, you never heard that¨ he corrected himself and Donnie just rolled his eyes a little.

¨okay, hooligans, I have a test to get to¨ he stated, getting to his feet and grabbing his satchel along with the remaining books from the table top. He stopped and locked his eyes with Mikey´s pointing a finger his way. ¨you, no more goofing off in class, okay? promise me¨

Mikey rolled his eyes, more for show than anything else and got up to wrap his arms around his big brother, who by the stress levels radiating from him coupled with the caffeine intake let him know he was definitely way overdue for a hug. ¨promise. Now go do your genius thing and ace that test¨

Raph saw some on the tension ease out of Donnie the second he wrapped his arms around Mikey, and as he leaned back and became the second brother to ruffle Mikey's hair that day he pulled back, making a fuss and combing it back into position. ¨what´s with you guys and my hair, seriously? You´re ruining my do¨

¨wouldn´t want that¨ Don laughed. ¨just make sure to apologize to your teahcer, okay? you don´t want him marking you down over this. right, see you later guys, wish me luck¨ he glanced back over at the table before dashing out of the door just as the corridors started to fill, the bell having run a few minutes before.

¨that´s our quew too, Jones, we´ve got shop to get to¨ Raph announced quickly nodding in LH´s direction before rising to his feet and heading over to his brother ¨stay out of trouble would ya, kid?¨ he winked, brushing a hand over the top of his head just to mess with him as he headed out the door.

¨i´ll try¨

¨you´d better¨

* * *

Mikey had taken off his mud-caked shoes two flights of stairs ago and was now wrestling with the rusty old door that led to his apartment, trying to balance a slippery umbrella under one arm and a borrowed fantasy book he had swiped from his pleasant visit to the library in the other. This rain was really starting to take a toll on his wardrobe, not to mention it added to his chores, having to mop the drenched floors, toss all of their clothes into the dryer every night and last but not least scrub his sneakers to change them back from brown to white wasn´t exactly what he called an entertaining pastime.

And he´d never say this out loud for fear of being mocked for roughly half a century, but rainy days were a really bad time to have seriously curly hair. Where were Renet´s disaster disguising hats when you needed them anyway?

 _´we really should look into changing the locks on this thing´_ he thought to himself, as he usually did whenever the front door would challenge him to an arm wrestle, but with one last push it finally bolted open, sending him barreling inside like a bat out of hell.

And the second his wet socks hit the limestone floor it was like watching a figure skater´s first time on the ice, his arms swinging up over his head and then flapping up and down at his sides as he tried to regain his balance. It felt sort of like that mini heart attack you have when you miss a step going down the stairs and you´re already envisioning yourself face down at the bottom.

¨Woah¨ he said out loud, finally regaining his balance with a pleased smile and a relieve sigh ¨nailed it!¨

He made his way past the bare walls, and tossed his keys into the bowl by the door as if running on instinct. Glancing back at the entrance he noticed the wallpaper starting to peel, and looking a little closer, he guessed it had been that way for a while now, he just hadn´t noticed. There were a lot of things that crept up on you in this place, like loose handles or creaky doors, it was still a fixer upper, that was for sure, but day to day life has a tendency to allow you to miss the little things.

He gathered Aprils bright yellow umbrella, smiling for a second at the fact that all her things matched her favorite color just like his did and swung open the closet door to his right. A gust of air hit him, like he was discovering a mummy's tomb or a secret hidden door for the first time. And to be fair, it probably hadn´t been opened for a while now, it wasn´t really even a closet anymore, more like storage room, piled high with boxes and crammed with junk they hadn´t found the time to throw away.

What could he say- it was still a house full of teenage boys at the end of the day.

But it wasn´t just junk, most of it was the boxed up remains of their life with Splinter. Photo albums, the old cat-shaped clock that used to hang in the kitchen, their dad´s old Japanese tea set, little hand make knickknacks splinter had kept from their childhood, even their old ninjitsu weapons gathering dust in a chest by the wall.

He flipped on the switch and found a hook to leave it on, glancing around the room for a second before switching the lights back off and closing the door behind him.

Because, yeah, it sucked that they didn´t have any photos on the walls, or embarrassing hand drawn pictures on the fridge or those little origami cranes Splinter used to place around the house for good luck anymore, but Leo had promised that when they found the time they´d put them all back up again, though somewhere in-between settling down into their new lives and Leo´s long string of odd jobs it had sort of just been pushed to the side.

But _they_ were just the excuse's Mikey told his friends when they came over, the truth was if Leo wanted to get something done he would always make time instead of waiting for it.

´I guess he just isn´t ready yet´

He shook his head, as if that was supposed to clear the thoughts from his mind and headed towards the kitchen. Wednesdays weren´t his favorite day, you could say. His brothers all worked late, so he´d usually get home and just get started on chores and homework, but the second he saw a little bundle of fur running towards him as he walked into the kitchen, he pretty much let himself forget about all of it.

¨ _I guess that means i´ll always have someone to welcome me back from now on, ha buddy?¨_ he bundled him up in his arms and set him down on the kitchen counter when he got inside, dumping his sneakers in the sink.

¨how was your day, kitty?¨ he asked as he dragged his soggy backpack off his back and set it down on one of the empty stools. ¨mine started out pretty lame, but hey, I made a friend¨ he was grabbing a can of tuna from the cupboard and spooning it into a little bowl, then placing it down for him.

The lively feline went straight to it without the slightest complaint, but the blue eyed teen wasn´t quite as impressed with the temporary set up he had going as he sat himself down in one of the empty stools, the one Donnie had claimed as his own to be precise, that being because he could easily reach the coffee machine without having to get up from that spot.

¨I really need to get you some new stuff, ha buddy?¨ he made a mental note as he dragged out his phone to text Leo. His thumb hovered over the screen for just a second as he wondered whether or not that was a good idea. Leo had said they´d go today, but that was before he´d called to say he´d be home a little later than usual or before Raphs bike needed repairs. And besides, it was Mona´s art expo thingy that night, and missing that would be like signing your own death warrant.

Basically, It could wait.

Just when he was about to slip his cell back into his pocket a message popped up on the screen and he was sort of surprised to see it was from Renet. She should have been back by now, why wouldn´t she just come up? Then again, Renet never came up. Not that she hadn´t been invited countless times.

Sure the last movie night she´d been invited to had been cancelled for obvious reasons, but Mikey had asked her to come hang out with them like a million times, and she´d always just sort of changed the subject or said that she had too much homework.

He re-read the text, making sure he´d seen it right.

 _Are you home?_


	3. Chapter 3: of words and fire escapes

He had to admit, there was something seriously ninja-like about sprinting down a fire escape, and if it hadn´t been for the tiny kitten balanced in his right arm along with the nagging voice at the back of his mind reminding him of what Leo would say if he ever found out, it would have probably looked seriously badass.

He was wearing Raph´s leather boots, the ones he had to change out of before he left for work, because god forbid he get oil stains on the three year old shoes that were probably too old and ratty to actually be classed as even slightly intact anymore . They were his favorite pair though, and he´d worn them to death and back at least a thousand times. Not because he couldn´t be bothered to go get a new pair, or because they couldn't afford new ones, just because Raph was the sort of guy that once he found something he liked, that was it, he was set for life and wouldn´t change it even if it were falling to pieces. Which they definitely were. The souls were practically hanging on by a thread and Mikey would have spent a good minute or so wiggling his foot up and down and pretending they were flapping mouths or spacecraft doors any other day.

But as far as he was concerned, he didn´t have a minute or so to spare.

He´d slipped on the first pair of shoes he could find, grabbed his keys along with kitty and jabbed a kitchen towel under the window so that he could get back in later. It wasn´t the best plan, but that´s where the keys came in, just in case he locked himself out. Again. yes, It had happened before, and there was definitely nothing more embarrassing than knocking on your own door until one of your brothers let you back in- provided they had already stopped laughing that is.

It was safe to say his plan B´s always payed to be a little more thought out than his plan A´s. and if those failed, well, the alphabet still had another 24 letters to fall back on.

It wasn´t the safest fire escape in the world, the railings and steps were rusty and creaking under his weight, but luckily for him Renet lived just below them, so in no time at all he found himself staring down at the window, his hand hovering just inches from the glass.

It was covered in blue and yellow stickers, flowers and butterflies standing out charmingly in contrast to the frilly white curtains on the other side, and for a second that he didn't even know whether he should be wasting, he wondered if he should even knock at all.

She hadn´t exactly invited him over, or given him a concrete reason to worry even, just asked if he was home and the fact that she hadn´t answered his text had seemed like as good of an invitation as any, but now, standing on the puddled fire escape he was starting to wonder whether or not that was a good idea. Rennet and Mikey were friends, sure, but her dad was strict with her curfew, she had never really said it but he knew by the way she´d tense up whenever he asked her over or asked to see her house that her father probably kept her from really having much of a social life. So how exactly would he feel about a freckled teen knocking at his daughter's window unannounced?

But he just couldn´t ignore that nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach, like a siren blaring for attention, trying to tell him something wasn´t right.

 _Ugh, just knock, you moron, one little knock, what´s the worst that could happen? If Raph were here he´d be calling you a total wuss right about now. Her dad probably won´t even hear you, this window is obviously in her room… right?_ he reasoned with himself, after all, butterflies and frilly curtains didn´t really remind him much of the chain-smoking broad-shouldered grouch he´d seen around the building from time to time. his fingers hovered inches away from the glass as if it were some sort of electric fence. And the second he had dared to tap it he pulled his hand away just as if it had given him a shock.

 _Oh crud._

The windows spread wide open around the same time Mikey took in a deep breath, and before he was even sure he had made the right decision Renet was looking up at him with lamp like eyes, beckoning him to relax with a confused yet genuine smile that made him glad he´d given way to that tiny slice of courage.

But that didn´t mean she was about to get away with convincing him everything was allright. Her eyes were red and puffy, the blue in them standing out against the red like torches. The ponytail she had her hair tied back in was raggedy, strands of ash blonde hanging loose by her sickly pale face.

¨I gotta admit, I was expecting a knock at the door, not at my window, Mike¨ the words slid off her lips like silk and he felt his face soften instantly, the worried crease in his brow replaced by squinting eyes as he smiled.

¨yeah, not really my style¨ he shrugged playfully, in a way that made her wonder if they really _needed_ to talk about what had happened, because she didn´t want to make the smile that was suddenly making everything better disappear.

He did that for her, and he probably didn´t have a clue. After all she hadn´t given him a single one, not the slightest hint that he was a friend she constantly wished she had met back when her mother was around, back when she hung out with her classmates after school, back when the living room was still called the family room. She kept him at a safe distance, every silly conversation they would have about tv-shows or comic books recorded, ever heartwarming smile that lingered no matter what they were talking about, like it didn´t have an off switch, framed and stored in her mind.

He was still smiling now and it was the best she´d seen in a while. He had the biggest eyes she could imagine, but when he smiled they disappeared into his freckled cheeks, his eyes squinted, and she couldn´t help but think he looked like one of those cartoon characters whose eyes turn into lines when they laugh.

Mike didn´t know much, But he still knew more than anyone else. and she could tell by the way his curiosity would spike whenever she even mentioned her father, or the way he looked way too understanding for the hyperactive kid he was whenever she told him she couldn´t hang out. He never asked why, and for a guy who could talk until he lost his voice, what he didn´t say said a lot.

He was undoubtedly the spoiled little brother of the little Hamato clan that lived upstairs. That´s what Mikey called them. The leader, the brains, the muscle and the party dude. And she knew by stories and the occasional overheard phone call that he had each and every one of them wrapped around his finger, but he did it without throwing tantrums or nagging or guilt tripping them into it, all he used was that special superpower that only little brothers seemed to possess. And it made him the least selfish person she knew. Because he gave into them just as easily as they gave into him.

¨so… is everything okay?¨ she glanced up at him, wondering when she had looked away and putting her thoughts on pause to silently curse herself. He wasn´t smiling anymore, instead he had that worried crease in his brow, the one she got way too often these days, from teachers and sympathetic students she´d never even talk to. ¨you never answered my text¨

 _´Because the second I sent it I wished I hadn´t´_ was the first thing that crossed her mind.

He was waiting for an answer she didn´t know how to phrase, but he kept quiet while she thought, deciding to sit himself down on the rickety old fire escape, folding his legs Indian style. She noticed he had Mrs. K´s kitten and was setting him down between his folded legs, the little orange bundle of fur reaching up with tiny paws to claw at the bottom of his sleeve.

If he knew what was behind her he might not treat her like he always had anymore, in the teasing yet considerate way she´d grown accustomed to, and that´s the last thing she wanted Mikey to turn into, just another person who felt sorry for her. The living room was still in disarray, tables and chairs upended, scattered glass and what had once been mums favorite vase lying in pieces on the floor.

And what would he say if he knew that just an hour ago she had been in the same state as her living room? A shattered mess, crouching against the wall in the hallway, face buried in her arms, cradled by her folded knees and wishing she had someone to talk to.

So instead of inviting him inside and into the mess that was her life, she climbed out onto the fire escape, closing the windows behind her and leaning back against it. And the first thing she thought to do was pick up the little kitty, setting her down in her lap. ¨she´s so cute¨ she cooed, stroking her behind the ears as Mikey moved over to sit beside her, pressed up against her side, both of them now slotted into the tiny space the fire escape had to offer.

Wrapping the furry feline up in her arms she glanced sidelong and swallowed a fresh wave of tears the second she sees his smile. It doesn´t belong to him anymore, it´s the sympathetic kind, the kind she kind of fears because he clearly knows she´s avoiding talking to him, but she reasons that she´s not being selfish, she just doesn´t want to lose another friend, not one she can still laugh with and pretend nothing happened behind the closed doors of her apartment with.

After all, she´d been hiding away for a reason, and he´s probably the last person she wanted to see her like this.

¨so… I'm guessing today wasn´t all that great ha?¨ he said, and all she did was scoff, because let´s face it, it would have been impossible for him not to notice.

¨what gave it away?¨ she smiled anyway, a little lazily as he angles his head a little to catch her eyes. and she looks straight at them because she knows they'll keep her together.

¨I dunno¨ he shrugged, humor already evident on his face and she could see it coming. ¨maybe it was the fact that you didn't notice my awesome new shoes¨ she glanced down at his feet, propped up against the railing in huge scruffy work boots that could have probably fit two of his feet inside.

She laughed, and it felt like a blast of heat spread throught her. ¨dare I ask?¨ there was usually a crazy story behind everything Mikey did, which made maintaining a conversation with him pretty easy. And right now his ear to ear grin was fading into a lopsided smirk, which usually meant either she was right about there being a story or that he was going to make her work for her answer.

¨hey, a story for a story, that´s my asking rate¨

 _Yep, called it._

And she wanted to laugh, she really did, because he was grinning and hopeful in a way that meant that was what he had been going for. But something inside her just wouldn´t cooperate, and instead she felt her eyes starts to sting.

¨hey… I´m sorry, I didn't mean it¨ he was saying, soft and hushed tones taking over the humor in his voice and his hands reached out to her, hovering above her shoulders, secretly afraid she´d shrug him off, because a small part of her reminded him of Raph. Always keeping things to herself, for reasons Mikey would never fully understand, bottling it up until someone forced it out of him. ¨these things usually sound better in my head. you don´t have to tell me if you don´t want to, I just thought maybe it´d make you feel better…¨

His voice faded out and she looked up the second she realized Michelangelo Hamato, master of conversation had actually run out of things to say. So she let the kitten on her lap wander off back to her owner and pulled her knees up to her chest, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve.

¨would you let me get away with that?¨ she smiles, but she´s still hopeful about the answer.

¨just this once¨ he shrugs, his shoulders feeling a little lighter now ¨But you only get one of these, consider it a get out of jail free card. Next time you're spilling the beans¨ he announced, a pointed finger aimed her way.

¨deal¨

¨you´re lucky you know, I almost brought ice cream¨ the urgency in his voice made it sound like it was some sort of healing herb you could only find in the deep dark forests of the Himalayas. ¨And I don´t take comfort food lightly¨

¨and you didn't? How dare you?¨ she asked, because honestly, only a few things in this world were as timeless as the healing capabilities of an ice creams therapeutic power.

¨we´re all out¨ he threw his hands up defensively. ¨unless your one of those people who thinks matcha is a real ice cream flavour. If so, you can have all the matcha you want, trust me¨ he was saying, his face scrunching up in disgust and his eyes darting off to the side, probably recalling whatever matcha was.

¨what´s matcha?¨ she tilted her head to the side, finally welcoming a laugh when the question had Mikey shuddering at the very thought of the stuff.

¨are you sure you wanna know?¨ he asked, serious as a grave.

¨well now I gotta¨

¨are you sure though? Cause my life was way better before matcha came into it¨

¨Mikey!¨ she shoved his side playfully, halfway between hugging him and giving him a clout. ¨spit it out already¨

¨that´s exactly what I did when I tried the stuff!¨ he stuck out his tongue in repugnance, earning himself an eye roll from his far too patient for her own good friend. ¨okay, okay, it´s this weird green stuff Leo like loves, and it´s green tea flavor, okay? green tea. Like I get mint, and yeah, that´s sounds pretty gross too and it´s not, but trust me this stuff is like…¨

She folded her arms on top of her knees, her chin resting atop them as she listened to him going on and on about this apparently frowned upon ice-cream, in the Hamato house anyway, and she kind of started to wonder if all the comics books Mikey had read over the years had started to rub off on him.

He acted out his life just like the pictures in a comic, clutching his stomach when he laughed, stomping his feet when he was angry and whenever he had to explain anything his hands would fly about like an invisible puppet show.

It kind of made her smile for a second, until he stopped talking and his smile had faded into something a little smaller, something bright and sparkling in his eyes, something like recollection.

And he sure as heck wasn´t thinking about matcha.

¨I kind of get why he loves the stuff so much though¨ he was shrugging, and the way he seemed to look off into the wide space in front of him made her wonder if he was still talking to her at all. ¨my dad, he used to make all these weird Japanese teas. And I swear, they all had some sort of purpose, you know, there was the one he made us take when we had a sore throat, or the one that brought our fever down…¨he trailed off, probably trying to think of some more examples. ¨anyway, they were all pretty gross¨ he laughed ¨but splinter, he used to drink green tea every morning, he said it stimulated the mind and kept your body healthy or whatever, and eventually Leo, he started drinking the stuff too. it was funny cause in the winter we´d all be sat round the kitchen table drinking hot cocoa- until Donnie started drinking way too much coffee for his own good that is- and then there´d be those two with green tea¨ he was still smiling, something fond and mesmerizing happening to his eyes, and it made her feel bad.

Not because he clearly missed his dad, or because those boys should have gotten more time with him than they had, not even because she knew what it was like to lose a parent. Just because he would always do this, share fragments of himself with her without invitation or hesitation, and here she was, on her worst day not daring to utter a single word about herself.

She hadn't even answered and now he was finally looking back at her, his cheeks flushed and bashful as he raised a hand to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck ¨sorry, got kind of off track there. what was I saying?¨

¨oh, no, you were just summing up your complete and utter hatred for matcha¨ she smiled, without missing a beat. ¨but that´s okay, I think you covered it¨ she added teasingly. ¨besides, I like hearing about your family, they sound pretty cool¨

¨they're awesome!¨ he announced and she got the feeling that if he had the chance he´d broadcast it to the whole world. ¨what about you?¨

Her breath screeched to a halt. It wasn´t a question she had been prepared for. It wasn´t like one of those assignments in English class where she´d have to write about them, when there was time to prepare and plan how to words things. She felt her thoughts crumple like paper and something in Mikey´s must have clicked.

¨oh, sorry, I didn't mean to- it´s okay, you don't have to-¨ but she cut him off with an airy wave, convincing her smile to make an appearance as she glanced up at worry stricken eyes.

See, this is why he missed having one of his brothers around to slap a hand over his mouth before he said anything stupid.

¨no, we´re friends Mike. You shouldn´t have to keep apologizing for wanting to know stuff about me. you just caught me by surprise is all¨

After all, personal details were sort of a given in a friendship, not some minefield he had to tread through carefully every time she felt uncomfortable.

¨I know… but I get that maybe you don´t want to talk about some things too, really I do, Leo gets like that all the time about sensei¨ he shrugged, seemingly happy with either outcome.

And he really did know. He´d tried bringing up their father, he really had, through little details in their ever day lives. Because he saw his dad in all of his brothers, mostly in Leo and the way he seemed to have an answer for everything due to personal experience. But then there was the way Donnie had taken to always draping a blanket over the back of the couch in case one of them fell asleep in the middle of an epic movie marathon, or the way Raph had adopted that stern hard glare that could get just about anything out of just about anyone.

And he loved talking about his dad, he still wanted to hear if maybe he was the slightest bit like Splinter had been too, but that wasn´t about to happen. Leo´s eyes would turn navy at the slightest mention of him, and Raph and Don probably didn´t encourage the spurts of reminders for that very reason.

That´s why it was nice to talk about him again. Even if it was just to let himself remember.

And she could understand that. Because in that moment in time there were a lot of smashed photo frames on her living room floor, pictures and photographs, but none of them were of her mother. Her dad had made sure of that.

¨so my mum, her name was Horatia¨ she started out slow, and he scooted over a little, settling down like a kid at story time, urging her to continue. ¨and she was so great, everyone loved her. All my classmates always used to think she was the coolest mum. She always brought cookies for all the kids who got dragged along to those parent- teacher conferences at school, which were always really long and really boring¨ she realized she was smiling and Mikey must have too because he was shadowing her expression to a tee. ¨come to think of it, she was always baking, and she never used a cookbook, she always just used to say that food tastes best when you have no idea how it´s going to turn out¨

And that made Mikey grin from ear to ear, because if anyone ever found out how most of his original on the pot culinary concoctions turned out, he´d probably be banned from the kitchen forever.

¨and some of them turned out gross, like matcha gross I'm guessing, and we´d laugh it off and then when my dad would get home from work we´d tell him it was great and he´d always try it, even though after a while he probably knew we were just messing with him. then he´d pretend to get all annoyed and chase me around the house for hours¨

She couldn´t remember the last time she had talked about her family, let alone rambled on about them. and it had been nice for a little while, but maybe she´d play it safe and leave any follow up he had for another day ¨by the way, I really gotta try this ice cream, I hope you know¨

¨why? Didn´t my description come off as bad as it sounded in my head?¨

¨yeah, well, I need to make sure you´re not just keeping all the comfort food to yourself¨

He threw a hand over his heart, as if he´d just been accused of rigging the building to blow right out from under them. ¨you wound me. Besides, comfort animals beat comfort food any day of the week¨ he smiled, picking up his furry friend and holding him up over his head, tiny paws reaching out to touch his face as he was busy making baby sounds.

¨yeah… I have to say you´re a very close second, little buddy, but you still beat ice-cream¨ she leaned forward, patting the kitten´s head decisively.

That´s when something bright snapped in her friends bright eyes and the kid in question might as well have had a shining lightbulb hovering above his head, because that moment, my friend, was what he called a breakthrough, a true eureka moment. ¨That´s it! Ice-cream! You´re a genius¨

¨tell me something I don´t know¨ she smirked smugly, mostly just to see him laugh ¨like, what the heck you´re talking about, for instance…? ¨ Just a suggestion.

¨ice cream kitty, that´s his name!¨ he proudly proclaimed, looking down at the cat in his arms as if awaiting confirmation.

¨you can´t call it that¨ she was giggling now, hiding a smile in her sleeve, but she had to admit, the kid did look pretty pleased with himself.

She had heard a lot of funny pet names over the years: muffin, sprinkles, even a rabbit called cotton candy, but this definitely took the prize.

¨why not? He´s comforting and sweet and now he has a name with a great story behind it. what´s not to love?¨ it was settled the second kitty himself meowed right on quew and she could have rolled her eyes at the dorky laugh that escaped him then. ¨see, that totally means he likes it. it´s a done deal¨

And she could have said anything, she had quite a few comeback lined up but between the way it had taken him two days just to even be okay with picking his pet a new name and the huge dorky grin plastered across his face she just shrugged.

¨well, if _he_ likes it I like it¨

¨oh, please, he did not ´´ _get lucky´_ ´¨ she said with an air quote thrown in. ¨like, did you even watch the movie? Superman was totally getting the stuffing beaten out of him before his girlfriend showed up to save him¨ she defended.

She couldn´t remember the last time the two of them had agreed on who was the best character in a movie, especially not when it came to superheroes, so when Mikey had brought up the new batman VS superman movie he had stepped on a landmine he´d never even seen coming.

¨yeah, because batman totally played dirty. The only reason he was winning was because he set up traps and got his hands on some kryptonite. If they´d have fought head on batman wouldn´t have stood a chance and you know it¨ he spread his arms out wide to illustrate his point. ¨superman has super strength, super speed, laser eyes, he can fly…¨he started listing the points on his fingers, his eyes drifting off to the side while he thought.

¨it´s not like he cheated, Mikey, that´s the point of batman, he´s awesome because he _doesn't_ have powers. He sets traps and uses cool machines and he´s great at using his opponents weaknesses against them¨ she rested her case as far as she was concerned, leaning back against her window and crossing her ankles in front of her.

¨you know…¨ he started out before his phone started to ring in his pocket, that silly suspense music from jaws that he had set especially for his brothers blasting through the air. ¨hold on¨ he held up a finger, as if pausing the conversation with a playful look that clearly said ´this isn´t over´ ¨hey, it´s Raph¨ he grinned, albeit a little surprised, tapping the answer button and pressing the phone to his ear.

¨hey, bro¨

There was a rustling sound on the other end of the phone that stood out against the hustle and bustle in the background. Whenever Raph would call from the garage they´d always end up having to scream at each other over the sound of electric tools and car engines and the individual music each mechanic had playing while they worked that just seemed to mash together at some point or another. ¨Mikey! hold on a sec, would ya?¨ he was already yelling over the chaos in the background and then he could pick up the faint sound of footsteps, probably as he tried to find a quieter place to talk ¨okay, listen, we may have a problem here¨

Mikey shifted in his spot a little, kind of on edge. Because whenever Raph actually _admitted_ there was a problem, that´s when Mikey knew that either his hot headed brother had lost his temper somehow or someone else was in trouble.

Sometimes Casey. Usually Casey. Okay, mainly Casey. That guy really needed to be kept indoors.

¨what´s up?¨ he opted for light and airy, convincing himself there was no use in worrying about something before he even knew what was going on. Leo would be proud, after all, that was usually his area of expertise. Tugging at a loose thread on his jeans he pressed the phone a little closer to his ear.

¨Mona is gonna kill me is what´s up¨ he huffed on the other end of the phone with a voice something between boredly amused and infuriatedly panicked. It wasn´t a feeling most could pull off, but then again most didn´t have Raph´s inner pushover- reserved only for the lucky few who could get away with it, battling against a rough standoffish exterior.

Either way Mikey felt his tense shoulders give a little as he smirked. Of course this was about Mona. ¨when isn´t she?¨

¨Mike, this is serious¨ came a sharp edge to his tone but it wasn´t doing much to erase his smile.

¨okay, okay¨ he waved an airy hand and tried his best to dial down the humor. ¨what did you do?¨

¨I didn´t _do_ anything¨ he answered and Mikey could practically hear the eye roll on the other end of the line. ¨s´more like what I didn´t do. You know how I was supposed to wear a suit tonight for the expo? Well I was plannin´ on wearing the one Leo got me last year, you know the one…¨ he paused for a second, and Mikey knew exactly what sentence he was trying to rephrase.

The one he´d bought for dad´s funeral.

He didn´t say anything to move the conversation along, and maybe it was just because he wished one of them would bring up their father for once instead of tiptoeing around the subject as if it were some sort of dangerous territory they weren´t supposed to cross over to.

But that wasn´t about to happen.

¨ya know, the black one. But I rang Leo up a while back and apparently it was in one o´ those boxes from the old house that didn´t make it. I just thought it´d be in the closet by the door, ya know? Anyway, s´not like any of Leo´s are gonna fit me and Casey only has the one apparently, so...¨ he was babbling on and Mikey had started to worry again, not only was Mona gonna kick his butt but it just wouldn´t feel right all of them showing up in suits when Raph didn´t have one.

Renet was inching forwards a little as she undid her messy ponytail and shook out her hair, her eyes eventually glancing up to land on his. ¨is something wrong? ¨ She whispered nodding at the phone in his hand.

Mikey covertly lowered it, pressing it against his chest before answering ¨he needs to find a suit stat or Mona is gonna like, end him¨ he pressed the phone back up against his ear.

¨oh¨ she blew out her cheeks, her head tilting in thought ¨oh, wait¨ her eyes lit up in realization, slapping her forehead lightly like the answer had been staring her in the face the whole time. ¨I totally know a place that could help¨

¨hold on Raph¨ he lowered the phone once more, a hopeful grin on his face where there hadn´t been one before. ¨you do?¨

¨yeah, yeah, there´s this place downtown that rents suits. My cousin went there when he needed a tux for prom. Don´t worry it´s totally affordable and easy as long as you bring it back within three days¨ she said with all the confidence of an experienced sales clerk and Mikey seemed pretty pleased with the answer as he beamed into the phone.

¨hey, Raph, did you know you can _rent_ suits?

¨Erm… sure¨ came the confused reply, followed by a slightly more animated follow up question ¨why? You know a place?¨

¨nope, but Renet does¨ there was a pause as a smile crept onto his face¨ sure i´ll tell her. ¨he says he owes you one¨ his eyes open wide, like he´s just cottoned on to some marvelous life changing piece of information. ¨Oh, man, you have no idea how much power you have over him right now, we could have fun with this¨ he smirked, and if it weren´t for the fact that Mikey hadn´t a single bad bone in his body she might have started to think she was dealing with some sort of evil mastermind.

¨you´re such a dork¨

¨you´re no fun¨ he playfully sticks out his tongue.

¨yo, lover boy¨ he cuts into their bickering ¨the bike should be ready in ten minutes tops, and I managed to get off early so meet me downstairs in let´s say… 20?¨ Raph is saying, sounding as if he´s moving back into the noisy area of his workplace.

His bro really did work pretty hard, he didn´t have the hectic hours Leo put in, but it was still a lot longer than a normal kid his age should even know about, so Mikey was pretty glad he had the boss he did. Irma was the sort of boss any worker would be happy to work for. She was sweet yet a tad bossy, always in purple glasses and skilled in the art of comebacks when she had to be, and always made time to make Smalltalk with the three of them before passing the phone to Raph whenever they´d call him at work.

¨sure thing, bro, i´ll go grab my helmet¨

¨kay. Just remember to lock the door on your way out, yeah? And grab your jacket too¨ there was a pause on the other side of the phone followed by a second voice, probably a coworker. ¨yeah, sure i´ll tell him you said hi¨ he managed to make out ¨you eaten anything yet?¨

¨Leo? When did you get there?¨ he teased, really just because Raph always complained when Leo would checklist, as they called it, one of them.

¨bite me, Mikey¨


	4. Chapter 4: of old times and new chances

_Hi guys! thank you for all the amazing comments and reviews it means the world to me that someone would take the time to leave feedback and it really helps me out too, i love hearing what you guys think and what you´d do differently. a big kiss to all my followers and just everyone reading in general xxx._

 _p.s: for the lovely person who asked if Mikey and Renet are more than friends: right now they are just friends and Mikey is there for her now that she´s going through a hard time with her dad, but that´s not to say that they couldn´t end up being something more in the future ;p. i don´t know where I´m going with that yet as i still have a lot of new characters to introduce._

 _I hope you all enjoy it and I´m sorry it took so long, schoolwork has a way of creeping up on you when you least expect it._

 _Hope to hear from you all soon. XXX._

The front door wasn´t the nicest thing to look at, that was for sure. Ever since they had moved in and by the look of the thing for a _very_ long time before that _,_ it had always just been a sort of beaten up plank of rusty hinges and crinkling varnish, constantly coarse and flaking like dried glue. And it was covered in dints and for reasons they´d probably never uncover, what looked like green paint, which didn´t make much sense seeing as the walls were blue.

It was sort of like that annoying family member you can always count on to give you a hard time the second you get home, and boy did it, through strenuous key jiggles and countless pro wrestling worthy body slams against the crumbling wood to get the old thing to pop open and actually let you inside.

Honestly, that scaly russet gatekeeper was about as burglar-proof as an alarm system you could buy.

The ironic part was that he had been staring at the back of the thing for over half an hour now.

Why? Because Raph still hadn´t shown up. And when Raphael Hamato told you that he´d be there in twenty minutes, you could bet your life´s savings he´d be knocking on your door in ten at the absolute most.

Because sure, the fact that your brother broke speed limits to get anywhere ever was reason enough to worry, but him being late was reason to freak out altogether.

They were supposed to meet downstairs like they had arranged, but the never-ending supply of rainclouds hovering overhead must have heard them making plans, because it had started pouring it down not long after the phone line had clicked dead. so after leaving Ice cream kitty with Renet, to give them both some much needed company, Raph had called back to tell him to wait inside.

And that had been half an hour ago.

 _Quit pulling a Leo, Mikey, he´s probably just stuck in traffic or something_. He reprimanded himself, and it was a really uncreative excuse, but it was gonna have to do for the meantime because it was the best he had out of a long list of theories.

Great, now he was pulling a Donnie.

Worrying about Raph wasn´t hard to do. After all, he´d had plenty of experience at it. And Raph was back to his old self now, as far back as he could bring himself to go that is, parts of him he was still working on and others were too busy hiding behind that stupid tough guy front of his. But he knew he wouldn´t be out there doing something really stupid, not like the magnet for trouble he had been just a few months back, but that didn´t mean something else hadn´t happened.

Because even if his brothers didn´t go looking for trouble it sure as heck seemed to know their address.

So when someone knocked on the door a second later Mikey didn´t even think about the fact that Raph had his own keys, or that he was more prone to openhanded slams when he knocked rather than the feeble sounding knuckle-tap he was hearing, he just leapt over the couch, helmet in one hand, jacket in the other and nudged open the door, surprising himself as it flew open on the first try.

¨what took you-¨

But that definitely wasn´t Raph staring back at him.

Instead there was a lady standing in front of him, her face the perfect picture of confused with her hand still hovering midair where the door had just been, like she hadn´t finished knocking before he´d made his kneejerk fast reaction towards her.

But it didn´t take her long to recover, stepping back and lacing her fingers together with a nervous sort of smile that looked like it might crack her skin if she kept it up for too long.

She was pretty, he couldn´t stop himself from thinking, and not in the overdone, unbelievable way the leading lady of a Hollywood movie might be, not even in a way that might get you to stop what you´re doing and stare, just in the way that she could pull off jeans and a messy bun coupled with a woolly cardigan and absolutely no make-up better than anyone he had ever met before.

She was around his English teachers' age, but looked a lot kinder, not that that was a particularly hard achievement due to the fact that the last time Mikey had turned in a late book report it had earned him a glare that he predicted, if weaponized correctly, could be the start of one hell of a successful career in villainy.

She had dark hair and even darker eyes, framed by a pair of purple glasses, and she was pretty tall for a lady, but the way she was standing, sort of hunched and little awkward with her hands clenched in front of her made her look as small as she probably felt. And he wasn´t really sure what to think yet, but the nervous, half embarrassed smile she was sending quite apologetically his way made him think that any minute now she´d be telling him she´d gotten the wrong apartment.

It took him a second glance to realize that she wasn´t alone, though the passive, grouchy looking teen behind her didn´t seem like he´d be participating in the upcoming conversation any time soon.

The boy looked around Raph´s age, maybe a year older at a push, and it didn't take a genius to figure out he would have rather been anywhere else at that particular moment in time than on some strangers doorstep being stared at. He´d glanced at Mikey for a brief second when he´d swung open the door to reveal himself, and after a look featuring one highly uninterested raised brow, he´d just gone back to glaring at the floor with folded arms and a twisted lip.

Well… that was reassuring.

¨oh. Sorry, my bad, I thought you were someone else¨ he grinned, a little embarrassed. He stuck his head out into the hallway, looking over at the stairs because hey, it was worth a shot. ¨but I guess they´re running a little late¨ he let his shoulders slump a little.

A _lot_ late if he was gonna start getting technical.

¨oh, I see¨ she waved an airy hand, as if wafting away his apology, her stiff smile loosening into something a little more natural. ¨well I wouldn´t worry, deer, all this rain has the traffic moving a little slower is all¨ she offered sympathetically, probably picking up on his anxiousness. ¨it´s quite busy out there¨

She had a sharp tone yet a quiet voice, every word coming out as if rehearsed, because it was pretty hard to mistake a Brooklyn accent, especially when you heard them on a daily basis, but hers was a little smoothened down and subtle as if she´d been living somewhere else for a very long time. He noticed the slightly dripping umbrella under her arm and figured sure, i´ll trade my lame excuse in for hers, cause after all she was probably right.

When it came to predicting the weather or just weather in general, grown-ups really knew their stuff. Well, grown-ups and Donnie, that is.

¨yeah, you´re probably right¨ he smiled, and then realizing he still had his arms full, turned to set his things down on the table by the door. ¨so, are you guys like looking for someone or… ¨his eyes popped open as if making room for the sudden realization that hit him. ¨oh! Are you guys the ones moving in upstairs?!¨ he said a little too enthusiastically, making the older woman smile and the boy behind her look up with a quizzically raised brow.

Yeah… he didn´t strike him as a particularly enthusiastic person anyway.

¨no, no¨ she shook her head pleasantly ¨actually, we´re going to be staying next door for a little while, but right now we´re just looking for someone¨ she dug a hand into her jeans pocket, retrieving a perfectly folded piece of paper and ironing out a bent corner before opening it up.

But Mikey´s head was still processing the fact that she had said that they´d be staying next door. That´s what she had said, right? He hadn´t heard it wrong or anything. and that really didn´t make much sense to him because there were only three doors on his floor, one was _their_ rickety old thing, another belonged to the party crazy student duo against all forms of sleep and relaxation and the other had and as far as he was concerned still belonged to Mrs. K.

After all, it hadn´t even been a week yet since it had happened, surely the apartment hadn´t been sold _that_ quickly. Sure Mikey kind of liked their place, it was quirky and on the top floor and they even got cable, not to mention he´d met some really cool people, but still, he knew better than to think people were lining up to get a place there.

As far as he knew all of her things were still in there, her prehistoric looking TV, her collection of patterned teapots, her shelves filled with photographs and trinkets, every last item of memorabilia sat and ready to gather dust.

He couldn´t help but glance over at number 506, something prickly and stinging in his chest making him look back to the now unfolded piece of paper in the woman's hand. She took a quick scan of her surroundings, glancing away from the paper momentarily to look up at him. ¨sorry, I'm not really sure, the writing is a little smudged, but I think _this_ is the apartment we´re looking for. Does a Michelangelo Hamato live here, by any chance?¨

Wow, what?

Mikey never even got any mail addressed to him at home, let alone visitors.

¨oh. Yeah, sure, that´s me¨ He answered without missing a beat, albeit a little confused as to who they were, he genuinely hoped he hadn´t met them before and just forgotten. That was the wort feeling ever. Then again, Mikey rarely forgot a face, especially not one that looked as bored and put out as the kid in the back, now puffing out his cheeks as if to pass the time.

Her eyes widened a little in surprise, as if she hadn´t found exactly what she had expected to in Mikey. ¨that´s what we were hoping for¨ her face melded back into a soft smile. It´s really nice to meet you, we´ve been looking forward to it. Right, Chris?¨ she prodded an answer out of the boy by way of an elbow to the ribs.

She waited a second, but getting nowhere glanced back at the boy behind her with a forced smile and nodded her head in Mikey´s direction. But Mike didn't really have the time to notice anyway. He definitely wasn´t on the same page yet, standing there with an ape like expression on his face trying to figure out which out of the millions of questions circling around his head he should ask first.

¨oh, I'm sorry¨ she must have noticed the sheer confusion drawn across his face. ¨where are my manners?¨

He couldn´t help but smile then; that sounded like such a grown-up thing to say.

¨I'm Jenny, and this is my son Christopher¨ she held out a hand and Mikey shook it gladly, the other she used to point back at the boy who finally glanced up, nodding his head a little in acknowledgement. ¨you knew my mother, Susan, she lived next door¨ she was asking more than saying, looking a little expectant and unsure.

Susan? He didn´t know a…

Oh.

OH!

And that´s when it finally clicked. The shinning lightbulb above his head was going haywire because he didn´t _know_ these people, but he knew exactly who they were.

They were Mrs. K´s family. The only two she ever spoke about. The only two she had as far as he knew.

How had he not realized sooner? If you coupled together the woman´s accent with the boys' attitude you were sure to get yourself a Mrs. K clone.

Mikey had never come across a method cunning enough to get Mrs. K to reveal anything even remotely related to her personal life, which was okay, because it had been hers to share _or_ hide, after all. And no amount of puppy dog eyes, grade A pouts or even the occasional subtle prying question was about to change that.

But every now and then she´d let something slip. At first it had started out with little comments in the kitchen like ´this is my daughter's favorite dessert´ or ´come on, squirt, my grandson could make these by the time he was four¨ and it hadn´t taken long to figure things out. He guessed they lived quite a while away though, because they definitely hadn´t visited her for as long as _he_ had lived there at least.

He hadn´t said anything for a while, and he hadn´t noticed either, he was too busy making sense of the whole situation, and sure he knew it wasn´t that big of a deal, I mean he should have expected someone to stop by her place eventually. But he hadn´t. he hadn´t even thought about it. So this whole thing just seemed like it had creeped up on him.

¨hey, kid. you still with us?¨ the voice sounded as if he were hearing it from underwater, and it wasn´t quite enough to snap him back to reality just yet. ¨kid. Earth to Michelangelo. Am I sayi´n it right?¨

His full name usually did the trick though. Because back home, using their full names meant either you were in big trouble or you were about to be.

¨oh, sorry¨ he jumped back, surprised when he saw the teen standing over him, sporting a curious sort of look on his face when Mikey looked up at him. ¨erm…¨

¨you okay, hunn?¨ Jenny moved to stand in front of him, brushing back the stray hairs that were falling out of her bun.

¨yeah, sorry, i´m good, I just… Mrs. K used to talk about you guys. it´s awesome to meet you!¨ he smiled as wide as he could manage.

The woman's eyes widened a little at that but she managed a lopsided smile. ¨oh, that´s nice¨ she looked kind of lost for words, but her son was soon to react, stepping forwards a little.

¨yeah, listen kid, we don´t wanna keep ya, so here´s the thing…¨

¨hold on. So you just _went_ with them?¨ Donnie´s voice sounded something like it did whenever Mikey would pester him in the middle of an experiment, and even over the phone he could practically hear him slapping a hand to his forehead. ¨Mikey, you know you don´t even-¨

¨bro, chill. You don´t have to give me the whole ´don´t talk to strangers´ speech¨ he sighed, pacing up and down the hallway like he always did whenever he had to take a phone call. ¨but it´s not like they´re _complete_ strangers. Mrs. K used to talk about them _all_ the time, plus they´re gonna be staying next door for a while so we might as well get to know them a little, right?¨ he shrugged, looking back at the apartment door.

Jenny and Chris had gone inside a while back, and Mikey had promised to follow just before his phone had rung, Raphs name and photo popping up yet Donnie's voice answering. But that didn´t matter tight then, because Donnie´s voice was- even when he was being sort or yelled at- reassuring and familiar and there, and it was something to listen to before he had to go in after them. It wouldn´t be anything new, after all, he´d already spent hours in there once a week, cooking, helping out with the occasional chore, listening to her complain about those ridiculous reality TV shows she claimed to hate but still seemed to watch weekly…

But it was different now. Of course it was. Because she wouldn´t be waiting for him when he hung up the phone and went inside.

¨wait, they´re moving in?¨ he asked, surprised in a way Donnie usually wasn´t. ¨oh… well, that makes sense, I guess. They probably have a lot of things to take care of, being family and all…¨

He nodded a little glumly, picking at the bottom of his baggy sleeve. They probably did.

¨hey, so how come you have Raph´s phone, anyways?¨ he bounced back ¨he´s _with_ you guys right? I sure hope so cause he´s gonna need backup when he gets here, i´ve been waiting on the guy for like an hour now¨ he stated, keeping his voice just the right Balance between playful and threatening.

Not that there was any truth behind it, you either had to be the terminator or the rock to even stand a chance against Raph, and that was _before_ he got angry. And his theory was proven right a second later when Donnie just laughed, soft and steady and probably shaking his head.

¨not that I don´t want to see how _that_ ends, but to be fair, it wasn´t really his fault¨

¨so what happened?¨ he just had to ask, picking up on the annoyed tone in his older brothers voice. ¨wait¨ he said in a moment of sudden panic. ¨tell me he didn´t trash his bike or something! Donnie!?¨

It wasn´t a bad or even unrealistic guess, and to be quite honest, it had Raph written all over it.

¨Mikey, calm down¨ he laughed a little in response ¨nothing like that, no. besides, that _would_ be his fault. We´ve all seen how fast he goes on that thing, it´s really just…¨ he stopped a little abruptly, as if hitting rewind when he noticed himself getting off topic.

¨anyway, I _was_ at the library having a study session with April and her friend¨ he explained, a little out of breath like he was walking or something ¨when Raph called to let me know the two of you were going out last minute. Long story short, April overheard and doesn´t really trust the two of you to come home with a decent suit¨ he said in a rush.

¨dude, we´re not _that_ bad¨ he whined in response, his voice going high in that way that meant he was only slightly offended but could still get a good joke in about it.

Not that he had much of a defense lined up, opening up his closet was like opening up a packet of skittles, bright and bursting with color, and Raph´s was just jeans and creepy dark band shirts and sweaters.

¨Mikey, your only blazer is bright orange and Raph just told me that if he doesn´t find anything he´s wearing his leather jacket¨ Mikey imagined him rolling his eyes. he was probably usually rolling his eyes over the phone. ¨so I'm pretty sure April had a point there¨

¨okay, first of all, it´s called style, bro, and second, it´s not like we were gonna come home with top hats and monocles…¨ he paused, his head tilting to the side as the thought sank in just in time for him to realize how cool that actually sounded. ¨wait, You think they actually have those!? You gotta admit that would look totally-

¨and I rest my case¨ Donnie said flatly and Mikey narrowed his eyes, glaring intently at his screen in hopes it would reach his brother at the other end.

¨hurtful, dude, real hurtful¨

Don laughed then, sounding as if he were shifting the phone around ¨oh, yeah. Yeah, were in the car _now_. Raph´s driving so we´ll probably be there in approximately three point two seconds¨ he said, humor lacing his voice and April's quiet giggle somewhere close by.

¨you wanna get there in time or not, smart guy? ¨ a voice that was unmistakably Raphs yelled. Truth be told, he could have probably heard him _without_ the phone. Don´t know if you noticed but we were running a little late _half an hour_ ago¨

He started laughing, really laughing, throw back your head and clutch your stomach laughing as he let himself fall backwards until his back was laid flat against the wall. His brothers were a lost cause, seriously. He could already picture April rolling her eyes at the both of them, probably in the back seat with a teasing smile on her face, enjoying the chaos she had partly caused unfold like an enthralling drama show.

¨gimme the phone would ya? ¨ he could only just make out Raph´s voice now over the sound of a blaring horn in the background. He seriously hoped it wasn´t meant for them. Wishful thinking, really with Raph driving.

¨yeah, I don´t think so, not while you´re driving¨

¨so put him on speaker¨

¨sure, I mean it´s not like you´re already dangerous enough behind the wheel without -¨

¨would ya just do it, braniac? ¨

¨fine¨

The phone beeped once before Raph started talking. ¨hey, Mike. Sorry ´bout the change of plans buddy. So did they say what they wanted?¨

He held onto the phone a little tighter, the way you would a glass, gentle but firm as to not let it slip or crack under your strength at the same time. Mikey wasn´t one to overthink things, he usually just went with whatever life threw at him, and he usually found his way out of any situation he _wanted_ out of. But something about the fact that Mrs. K had left him something just made the whole thing even harder.

It wasn´t supposed to go the other way, but it did. And reminders were always the source of it.

It didn´t make sense in a way. It felt as if this was the bad kind of reminder. Something else to look at and think of as a replacement for something else you´d never have returned or swapped in.

Maybe he was starting to think like Leo. And no matter how much he loved his older brother, he´d never agree that it was better to not have anything that reminds you of someone who meant everything to you.

Because all that had done for any of them was make them forget, it had turned their home into a place where no one seemed to have ever heard of their father, no pictures of him, no ornaments, no anything that might make you remember he had once been a part of their lives, one of the biggest parts that had ever mattered. Nothing.

It didn´t make sense. And it definitely didn´t make life any easier.

¨Erm… sort of. I mean, yeah. Guys, she left me some of her stuff¨ he said, still a little in disbelief. ¨is that like weird or… cause it feels kinda weird. I mean-¨

¨wait, like in her will?¨ Donnie spoke up again, his voice going up an octave.

¨I guess. ¨

¨Mikey, that´s huge! It could be anything. Did you ask what it was? Did they say-¨April´s voice was rambling into the phone now, sounding pretty thrilled about the whole thing.

¨I don´t know yet¨ he cut her off with a laugh, something delicate and unsure, because let´s face it, this whole situation was kind of messed up. And what if it was something big? What if she could have left it to her family? What if they wanted it? Mrs. K wasn´t a rich lady, she never had been by the sounds. She had been long since retired and what little money she did have she used to get by, just like him, just like a lot of people.

¨guuuys¨ he whined, tipping back his head when they started rambling over each other, their voices melding together and turning into white noise. ¨they´re waiting for me, you know¨

¨wha-? Oh, sorry, Mikey, okay, that´s fine¨ Donnie said in a rush now. ¨listen, we shouldn´t be that much longer now but we´ll let you know when we get there, okay?¨

¨no problem, bro¨ he gave the wall in front of him a thumbs up.

¨and Mikey-¨

¨I know. Close the windows, lock the door, grab your keys and a jacket. I got it¨ he finished off for his brother maybe just a little too smugly. ¨anything else?¨

That´s right, he was learning. And the sound of April bursting out laughing was just a bonus.

So there he was, staring at a door again.

He was having a hard time pinpointing what aspect of this whole situation had him freaked out the most.

And it wasn´t because he didn´t know these guys, he pretty much knew all he had to about them from Mrs. K and it´s not like they were asking him to do anything crazy, they just wanted him to come over so they could give him whatever Mrs. K had left him, which was scary reason number two. But if he was gonna start numbering them number one would have to be the fact that he knew exactly what the topic of conversation would be the second he stepped inside.

And it wasn´t one that he liked to bring up.

But, the truth was he didn´t have time to freak out, his brothers would be there any minute now, so all he had left to do was take a deep breath, reach out towards the handle and take a step inside.

The strange thing was that it looked exactly the same as he had left it just a week ago. Mrs. K´s apartment wasn´t much bigger that theirs, but unlike theirs, the kitchen was the first thing you saw when you walked in the door, and it was the thing he was most familiar with. Hers was open plan too, the kitchen and living room melding into one, no doors in between, unlike theirs where each door leading into each room was attached to the corridor.

But apart from the one quite major missing detail, the old place looked exactly the same. And sure, why shouldn´t it? it hadn´t even been a week.

But it _was_ colder than it should have been, and maybe a little messier and it didn´t smell like something had just been cooking anymore, but one thing was for sure, at least it wasn´t empty, and if there was one thing that could have made up for all of it right that second, Jenny´s beaming smile the second she saw him standing at the door came pretty close.

¨Michelangelo¨ she kept on smiling, standing on her tiptoes to dig through one of the cupboards above the sink. ¨come sit down¨ she glanced over her shoulder to nod at the kitchen table. ¨so are your folks okay? Did they say it was allright for you to be over here? We won´t keep you long, promise¨ she was saying, her back still turned.

He strode forwards, sitting himself down at the table and recoiling at the bombshell-like combination of both the mention of parents and his full name.

It wasn´t a question that he and his brothers were unaccustomed to. They´d had to talk about it with teachers and friends and classmates eventually, it was just one of those things that had to be said after a while, but it wasn´t the kind of thing you just threw into an introduction, it wasn´t the first thing you wanted to bring up straight after ´take a seat´.

¨oh, everyone calls me Mikey by the way. Way easier.¨ he shrugged, smiling as she pulled a ceramic pot he recognized as the honey from the cupboard and set it down on top of the counter. ¨and, erm… it´s actually just me and my brothers next door. But they said it was cool, they shouldn´t be too long now anyway¨

Well, it was out there. it felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest. Even so he wasn´t looking forward to any follow-up questions.

¨oh, you boys don´t live with your parents?¨ she was saying, light and airy as she went about making herself some tea, with clearly no idea as to just how un-light and un-airy his answer was about to be.

¨ oh… well we used to. It´s just the four of us now, though. Which is cool, don´t get me wrong. Leo, he´s the oldest, he´s our guardian ¨ he explained, and it went the exact same way it always did, he tried to explain it with as much of an upbeat attitude as he could muster, hoping to avoid being the only one still smiling at the end of it.

But it didn´t take her long to give him that look, her eyes slightly agape as her fingers tightened around the steaming mug of tea she had just grabbed. The shock didn´t last long, soon melding into something sad and droopy, finishing it off with a sympathetic smile that ended up just coming out pained. ¨I'm so sorry, I really had no I-¨

¨oh no, seriously, it´s fine. Really. Leo takes care of us¨ he grinned, risking it splitting his face in two just to make that look on her face disappear. ¨we have a lot of fun, actually¨

But he was used to that look, they all were.

He hated giving people that look.

And he was never lying when he told people that Leo took care of them, he did, he always had. But it was never all that neat and tidy, as far back as he could remember the Hamato boys had always been a mess, and they hadn´t even always been the Hamato boys. Their life had been hard before master splinter and after master Splinter, but they had never been alone. They were there for each other, and Leo was the boss, he was the one who kept them safe, who fought and reasoned with the grownups back at the orphanage, and that was why he was in charge, not because he was the oldest.

Grown-ups always wanted to hear that another grown-up was in charge, especially when it came to absent parents, so that´s what Mikey told them, that it was all down to Leo, but it wasn´t, they took care of Leo, just not in the same way he took care of them.

For as long as he could remember Leo had always been really brave, and right now he was starting to wish that some of had rubbed off of him, even just a little.

¨well, it´s nice that you boys have each other. You sound quite close, which is always nice to see between siblings, you know. My boys practically tore each other's hair out when they were kids¨ she said with a fondness in her eyes that landed on the boy shuffling about the living room.

¨ _when_ we were kids¨?¨ came the scoffed reply. ¨you say that like they´ve actually grown up since then¨

Mikey couldn´t help but laugh at that one, Jenny just shaking her head like she wasn´t surprised at all. ¨as I was saying, they sound like nice boys, Dear. But it _is_ a shame about… do you mind me asking h-

 _¨mum¨_ both their heads shot in the boy's direction, the sharp tone of his voice taking both of them by surprise. His eyes were glued to hers, and he didn´t look mad or annoyed, not even a little bit, but it was a warning look nonetheless.

And it was the kind you listen to. it was the kind Leo had practically perfected.

His older brother had a way of letting you know when you were overstepping your boundaries, and he could get it across with just a look. And for Mikey, that was a pretty handy thing to have around, seeing as he always seemed to be on the verge of saying _exactly_ what he thought.

He didn´t really like the guilty look that crossed the woman's eyes a second later, that flicker of panic a second before like she hadn´t realized it wasn´t her place to ask. It kind of made him feel bad, because he was exactly the same.

He didn´t see any harm in asking questions, he never had, Mikey just figured it was the best way to get to know someone, and he would have answered her too, really he would, but honestly- he was kinda glad the glare master had cut in when he had.

He wasn´t quite sure who along the way had been the one to say ´ask as many questions as you have to to understand´ it sounded like such a teacher thing to say, but it never really applied outside the classroom, which sucked because everything worth writing down happened outside, way away from textbooks.

And it definitely hadn´t been master Splinter, who had always encouraged him to come to him with his questions and not the angry teachers and mothers who´d call him up with a long list of complaints and some motherly advice after having been rendered red-faced and speechless by whatever had been on his mind at the moment.

Mothers were helpful that way.

¨so do you have any idea where that box might be? I can´t find it in here¨ he said shortly after, as if that had been the reason he´d called. He was shuffling about now, glancing around the room and Mikey felt like a total turdbrain because he should have said that it was okay, that it didn´t matter, that he got asked that kind of thing all the time but before he could even answer she was taking one last swig of her tea and over at the sink setting down her mug.

¨it´s probably in her room¨ she said, heading past Mikey with a smile, rubbing his shoulder affectionately on her way past ¨I doubt she would just leave it lying about here¨ she headed off towards the bedroom, stopping midway and turning around with a bright flash of something sudden crossing her eyes.

¨oh!¨she clapped her hands together. ¨and you mister, can start unloading boxes. I don´t wanna leave them in the car overnight. ¨ she said with her own warning look, just the kind with a little more consequence behind it before disappearing into the bedroom.

¨yeah, i´m on it¨ he didn´t lose any time in saying and before Mikey could even make sense of the whole conversation having come and gone in just a couple of words, the older boy was reaching across the table to grab their keys.

¨ thanks for the save¨ Mikey smiled over at the teen who raised an eye ridge at him, as if he were waiting for someone to translate what the heck he was talking about. ¨I mean, I don´t mind or anything, it´s fine¨ he waved his hands, feeling kind of like he was talking behind her back, which with her being so nice of all seemed kind of like a douche move on his part. ¨I just wouldn't really have known what to say, you know¨

Which was the truth. That´s all it had been.

He´d practically trained himself to be able to answer any question about their past that was thrown his way, and he did it so that his brothers didn´t have to, because he´d hate the shadows that crossed Leo´s eyes, like he had been there when it had happened, like he saw it happen every time someone even mentioned their dad. he hated the way Raph would block people out with a rude comment, saying it was none of their business, pushing everyone away because it wasn´t worth plowing through if he had to be real with any one, if he had to open up. And Donnie… well it was the only thing Mikey had ever known to leave his braniac brother speechless.

¨yeah…¨ the teen was saying, eyes downcast and suddenly looking a hell of a lot less like he wanted to pummel someone. ¨she means well, she´s just…¨ he fumbled for the words, his eyes moving like he were scrolling down a long list of adjectives.

Curious? Interested? Eager to get to know him?

¨nosy¨

Okay… not the way he would have put it, but hey, he was family. Family could get away with that kind of thing.

Mikey wasn´t exactly just now noticing- because like, seriously it was hard to miss, but Chris was a pretty big guy, not LH big, but big. He had this denim vest on, and it kind of looked like maybe he´d ripped the sleeves off himself, the edges were frayed and his arms squeezed through the holes like they were stuck there.

Striding over to the coatrack by the door you´d have thought the guy had lived there his entire life and by the time he had pulled an ACDC jumper over his head, not bothering to fix the strands of hair that got pushed into a fringe atop his forehead he was reaching for the doorknob.

And because Mikey didn´t really feel like sitting in the old apartment by himself , getting sentimental with the old place and whatnot while everyone else was busy, he was on his feet before the door even had a chance of shutting. ¨hey, need some help?¨

The door swung open all the way, and he could have sworn the annoyed looking twitch in the older boys' eyes was simply an attempt to keep from rolling them.

¨whatever¨ it took him a couple tugs to free the duffel coat from the coatrack, pushing it into Mikey´s chest like his heart had stopped beating. ¨put that on¨

But hey, that was good enough for him.

¨dude, you're like seriously huge¨ he was saying, his feet hitting the first few steps that the kid on front of him seemed to be taking five at a time as he wrapped the tent sized jacket around himself. He had to bend over to reach the zipper that practically started down at his knees, pulling it all the way up to his chin.

¨Thanks for noticing¨ came the voice from all the way around the first corner which pushed Mikey into a little run to keep up, the way too long sleeves of his jacket flapping against his sides.

He managed to catch up to him, keeping his pace as fast as he could, starting to realize just how short his legs were, seriously it was crazy. Chris was swinging his keys around his fingers, his eyes droopy and looking straight ahead like he had better things to do than make Smalltalk with a boy who´d already gained the seriously saddening title of kid.

It wasn´t much of a nickname really. But he´d come back to that.

But hey, Mikey was the king of Smalltalk, so if this guy was gonna challenge him he wasn´t about to back down.

¨one of your brothers called Raphael by any chance?¨ he beat him to it with a sudden surge of curiosity and Mikey snapped his mouth shut, because honestly, that had been like flipping on a switch. Because sure sometimes it was tough finding something to talk about, but Mikey could go on about his bro´s for hours until someone stopped him.

Well that definitely made things a hell of a lot easier.

¨you know Raph?!¨

¨nah, not really¨ he shrugged. ¨but I was there when he got kicked off the rugby team¨

This conversation just kept getting better and better.

Raph had been on the rugby team for _one_ day.

Apart from ninjutsu, Raph had always been way more into sports than the rest of them, so when they moved to Brooklyn Leo had suggested he try out for the team, and after countless nights out on the town with Casey and one too many black eyes and back alley beat downs, it had turned into more of an order than a request.

And it wasn´t just to keep him busy or away from Casey, who had turned from a bad influence into a brother in the one year they had known him, it was to give him an outlet, a way to let off some steam and actually have it come to some good for once.

So he had, begrudgingly and with the lowest spirits possible tried out, and he´d made the team too, but when Leo drove him home from his first day of practice angry and slamming doors and ending it off with another night of probably and quite literally painting the town _red_.

Mikey´s eyes burst open, wide and happy and crazy curious in a way he´d been dying to be over this story in ages, because no one knew what happened that day, except for Leo. Leo knew everything.

¨wait, wait wait!¨ Mikey rounded on him, jumping in front home him and walking backwards down the stairs. ¨for real? Dude you gotta tell me what happened!¨

¨what, you mean you don't know? ¨ he scoffed, but Mikey didn´t think he imagined the hint of humor in the boys´ eyes. He didn´t tell y- would you stop walking backwards, you´re creeping he out¨ he reached out to guide Mikey away from the oncoming wall, spinning him around.

¨you´re clearly not the little brother ha? We´re the last one´s to find out about anything, trust me. Plus Leo said not to push it, and when it´s about Raph you listen¨

But the boy was almost smiling now, glancing sidelong at the kid just to make sure he was for real. But he did know what it was like to be the smallest thing in a big household. His brothers were two and three years older than him, but one thing was for sure, by the look of this kid he was far from being raised by a couple of bullies.

¨fair enough¨

So Mikey waited… and waited… seriously?

¨dude, Come on, I'm dying here, you gotta tell me what happened¨ he found himself pleading, eager and curious and without a doubt in his mind that he couldn't give up this awesome opportunity, because he was already picturing him and Donnie giggling and pinky promising to keep it their secret behind closed doors later on.

Donnie liked to pretend he wasn´t one for gossip, and between eye rolls and head shakes during the lunch period whenever one of Aprils' girlfriend's would skip over to talk her ear off about the latest high school heartthrobs he got away with it too, but it didn´t work at home.

And his brother wasn´t the type to spread it either, but if there was one thing the guy really hated it was to be the last person to know about something.

Chris tipped his head back once they stepped outside, dark eyes staring up at dark skies and squinting like he didn´t quite trust the rain not to start up again. And once he seemed quite pleased with that he laid his keys flat in his hand, finding the one he needed.

¨well¨ he started, leading the way around the back of their building where a black four-wheel drive was waiting for them. ¨they lost one hell of a tackler that day, i´ll tell ya that¨ he smirked, pointing his key and making the lights flash and the doors click open.

Well, that couldn´t be good. But Mikey sort of had an idea that it had something to do with a fight, it used to be the go to response whenever Raph had gotten into trouble, but that was different now, and all _four_ of them knew it, so whatever he was about to tell him wouldn´t worry Mike, and it definitely wasn´t about to make him think any less of his big brother, but hey, it could make for some great blackmailing material one day way way in the future far enough away for it to be funny.

¨oh, man¨ he still cringed internally. Just because he wasn´t worried didn´t mean it wasn´t a little hard to listen to. ¨I don´t know if I wanna hear this¨ he parted the fingers draped over his face to peek out at the teen now popping the trunk of the car.

¨your call, kid¨ he shrugged like it didn´t matter to him either way and Mikey waved his hands like he was being attacked by a swarm of radioactive wasps. No way was he missing out on a chance like this.

¨dude, we both know I didn´t mean that!¨ he assured him, willing him to continue. ¨so, did he like… I mean I'm guessing it was a fight but…¨ Mikey shrugged and he wasn´t really sure where he was going with this because he could have asked around a million different questions right then. ¨what happened?¨

¨you really wanna know?¨ he asked and Mikey headed round to the boot of the car, stacked high with boxes and trash bags and started to wonder just how long they would be staying after all.

He nodded forcefully, leaving no room for doubt. Chris looked down at him with story teller eyes, suddenly not quite as put out with the whole conversation, because it was pretty clear this kid was hanging on his every word. ¨okay, if you´re sure. So my ma¨ he started, picking through the boxes, trying to figure out a system as to how to do this, poking and prodding everything to see how heavy each thing was. ¨she grew up here with my nan, I mean, not in this place¨ he nodded back at the awaiting building ¨anyway, she hasn´t been back here since I was a kid, but I drove up last summer to visit my cousin, xever-¨

¨Xever? I totally know that guy. The dude with the rad afro, right?¨¨Mikey said as what was, as usual, the first thing that came to his mind. ¨he´s always at the skate park¨

He was a little younger than Raph, but not by much and he was kind of known around school for being the guy who seriously challenged the teachers with his fancy comebacks and one-liners. But as it turned out he got away with it, because smart mouth skater or not Don said he got real good grades.

But Mikey mostly knew him as the guy who skated home on that awesome board and always fist pumped Casey when they were walking down the hallway.

¨yeah, well he used to play too¨ he grabbed the first box out of the car effortlessly and handed it over to Mikey, who practically buckled under the weight, his hands going white knuckled and clutching the slightly damp cardboard like he was willing it not to fall.

¨think you can handle that? He gets a sort of tentative unconvinced look as careful hands hover under the slipping box.

¨totally, piece of cake, can´t even feel…¨ his arms, as it turned out. ¨Dude, what´s in here anyway, car parts?¨ he said, leaning backwards, shifting about the box to try and get a better grip on it before Chris reached over with a roll of his eyes, taking it off of him like he were handing over a paper towel.

¨more like dishes, tough guy. Here¨ he got handed a trash bag that kind of felt like a huge cushion instead, it was soft and squishy and Mikey just hugged it around the middle and squished it to his chest.

Mikey was used to being the smallest out of his brothers, and the smallest in his class, and it had always been okay with him, because he´d laugh and say it was because his bro´s babied him so much, because they called him squirt way to often and insisted of fighting his battles for him like big brothers think they have to, but it wasn´t, not according to Donnie, and not according to the doctor Sensei had taken him to when he was still a little kid.

There was never enough food to go around when they were little, before the orphanage, or during those few months when they had thought running away from it would make life easier, would hurt less than watching kids being taken away to become part of a family, and all so they could keep theirs together, and before they met sensei that night in that back alley behind the pet shop Donnie used to take him to look at the puppies in the window.

He couldn´t remember a lot from back then, mostly because that´s the way his brothers wanted it, they kept those things to themselves, but Leo had been more than old enough to remember almost _everything,_ the way most kids remembered opening Christmas presents early in the morning, or their first bike rides or those little smiley stickers teachers used to give them on their homework. Raph did too, but and Donnie, but Donnie liked to pretend he had been too young at the time to remember, and Mikey played along, because he had tendency to only hold onto the best part of life.

But he did remember some things. He remembered always walking around in a blue coat that was too big for him, the sleeves dragging behind him and getting dirty, he remembers the first time they met Splinter, the way Leo stood in front of the three of them like what had turned out to be their father could have ever even laid a finger on one of them, and he remembered the way it felt to be really, painfully hungry sometimes.

He could still feel the knots in his stomach when he thought about it sometimes. And even though he always ended up with more than his brothers, because big brothers were stupidly selfless in ways that that made them complete morons sometimes, it had stopped him from growing.

So while his brothers were busy constantly measuring how much he was growing, if at all, Leo standing them all against that doorframe and drawing line´s on it where there head met, he never quite minded the way his little orange line never seemed to get any higher.

And it was even more alright when Splinter had started training them and teaching them jiujutsu, cause what Mikey lacked in height he had started to make up for in muscle.

¨so, that´s what you were doing there?¨ he asked, hugging the bag to his chest as Chris tossed one twice its size over his shoulder, then securing that same seemingly led filled box under his arms an balancing it on his hip as the slammed the door shut. ¨you went to watch Xever play, right?¨

He nodded, heading back the way they´d come. ¨ Sure. The dork had been braggin' about making the team for like a week so I figured I'd sit in on his first practice, you know. But this kid- he was on the team too, I guess, he started running his mouth before it had even kicked off¨

So Raph hadn´t started it. That was reassuring in its own way. Sure, it hadn´t made Leo particularly proud at the time, by the sounds of things Raph had probably been the one to end it either way, but it was something to hang onto until the end of the story.

¨what did he say?¨

He shrugged the shoulder barely visible under the black bag draped over it, so it was probably more for his benefit than for Mikey´s. ¨ s´not like I can remember it word for word, but he was talking trash about one of your brothers, and You´re brother wasn´t having it for a second. Didn´t even give the guy a chance to finish, or try to scare an apology out of him even, jut socked him one straight in the jaw. Xev says he knocked out a tooth¨ he added the last part with somewhat of a bitter sounding chuckle, but the crinkles in his eyes told him he found it kind of funny.

He must have found something he didn´t like in Mikey´s eyes though, because he added quickly. ¨don´t worry about it, Xev has a tendency to exaggerate the details¨

But that wasn´t quite what had him surprised, the thing that was hard to believe was that someone would say something mean about one of his brothers, and then it had clicked… it had to be _him._ Maybe that´s why he´d been kept in the dark about it all this time, because it had been _his_ fault.

¨w- was it me?¨ he asked, eyes moving up to the older boys when he didn't answer. ¨that he was talking about, I mean¨

¨Not unless you wear glasses. He said something about breakin´ them right on his face¨ he commented, and he looked sort of hesitant about saying it. And yeah, it did suck to hear, because Donnie wore glasses in class, and other than that no one else id, but who would pick on Don? Don was… Don, and that was the only reasoning Mikey had ever needed.

¨Donnie!? Why the heck would someone pick on don, he's awesome!?¨ he found himself, half yelling, losing his grip on his bag when threw his arm out to emphasize his point.

Chris looked him over with something fond and curious and if it hadn´t of seemed completely out of place to him he might have even though _proud_ , in his lopsided smile and added with a raise of his eyebrows ¨mum was right, you guys are really something else¨

And that made Mikey smile in a way that was partly flattered but mostly just beaming with pride, because it was true, his brothers were something else, they were his heroes. And not all siblings were lucky enough to have that.

¨I can´t really remember what else the guy said after that, but I remember it was a load of crap, you know, nothing to get pissed over. Either way, your brother shut him up pretty fast.¨

¨Oh, man. He´s um…Raph loses his temper kind of easily and he was working through some stuff back then, he´s really a great guy, he´s like the nicest guy I know, really it´s just he's kinda protective and gets-¨ he started to explain, a sense of protectiveness of his own coming over him, because he didn´t want _anyone_ thinking Raph was mean or angry or always picking fights.

¨Hey, kid you don´t gotta defend him to me¨ he scoffed, like it was something completely out of the question. ¨I was rooting for the guy, trust me. You don´t go talking trash ´bout some guys kid brother without dealing with the consequences, you know. Even my brother get that¨ his eyes darted of, pausing on the same spot for a second as if reconsidering¨ well, then did when I was your age at least¨

¨So what happened next?¨

¨Well, you can imagine. For starters it took like five guys just to hold your brother back, the other kid wasn´t even gonna try it though, just cowered behind some of the other guys¨

Mikey didn´t blame him.

¨you know what they say about people like that, big mouths, small…¨he cut himself off, as if someone had slapped a hand over his mouth, again, reconsidering, and Mikey tipped his head to the side, letting it sink in before it clicked, because he wasn´t dumb, or sheltered and he had friends who made that kind of joke all the time, but when he burst out laughing the older kid might as well have flushed red because he looked worlds embarrassed.

And Mikey had always been one for looking for a Brightside, but he didn´t quite think that he imagined the hint of restrained smile on the teens lips before he carried on to finish his story. ¨after that the coach got between the both of them and, you know the rest, your brother got kicked off the team¨

¨what about the other guy? He started it!¨ Mikey said, and it felt almost like he were defending a cold case.

¨you know what teachers are like. They don´t care about the reasons, they care who throws the first punch. For what it´s worth, the other guy ended up quitting the team anyway, according to Xever no one wanted anything to do with him after he got your brother kicked off¨

¨Oh man, that´s messed up¨ but he kind of got why. It wasn´t fair, teachers never helped make anything fair either, and Raph had been so happy when he´d tried out and made the team, and everyone had told him that Raph was going to be their season ticket because he had an arm that could throw for miles.

¨You're brother´s a fighter or something right? What is it, boxing?¨

The question kind of surprised him, after all Raph had only gotten in one punch, and it´s not like any of them practiced anymore. Even Leo. And he was the one who used to have to be dragged away from the tatami mats on a daily basis.

¨Ha? Oh, right, nah, our dad taught us ninjutsu when we were kids. I mean that´s when we started, we kept it up until a year back. That's what he used to do, he had a dojo back in the city. We´re kinda rusty now I guess, but yeah.¨ he smiled, hopping inside as Chris held the door open with his foot for him.

Raph still got his practice in by the sounds.

¨Nijitsu ha? Sounds pretty neat. I used to do Karate, back in the city, but once I got my black belt my mum wanted me to focus on school or whatever¨ he shrugged a shoulder like it was no big deal, his voice unchanging.

¨Black belt! Dude that´s so rad! We don´t really have any dojos nearby, which kinda sucks, but my bro´s aren't that into it anymore anyway. Bet you could teach me a couple tricks though, right?¨ he hoped in front of him, bouncing and beaming from ear to ear and much to the older kid´s annoyance waling backwards again.

He reached out to flip him around just before he ran into the first stair. ¨would you quit that, you´re making me nervous¨

Mikey chuckled and headed up the stairs. It was colder in those halls than it had been outside, and it was quiet, as if the building would be empty without them. conversation came and went with Chris, and they were hard to keep, but Mikey liked him, he was a lot better at being nice than he was at pretending he wasn´t and once you got past the tough guy front he was really a pretty cool guy.

He´d definitely have to introduce him to Renet.

¨Hey so we´re gonna be neighbours ha, chis?¨ he span around to grin at him.

¨Yeah I guess so. Hey, listen, while we´re on the subject, people usually call me Brad. Chris is my old man¨

By the time they got back inside the apartment, Jenny was waiting for them at the table, a soft green shawl wrapped loosely around her shoulders and a fresh mug of tea steaming up her glasses as she pulled it away from her lips to smile at them. ¨hey you two. Did you manage to get everything?¨

¨pretty sure¨ he shrugged, setting everything down on the couch. ¨there was nothing else in the trunk, anyway¨

¨great¨ she said, getting to her feet ¨because I found a box with your name on it, Michelangelo¨ they both turned to look at her as she grabbed a cardboard box off of the chair by hers and set it on the table with a bang that made it sound super heavy. ¨whatever it is, it´s heavy¨

They both set their eyes on Mikey and suddenly the box looked like it was a thousand miles away.

¨well, don´t you wanna open it?¨

 _NO_ is the only word that comes to mind right then, the only one he´s sure he remembers how to piece together, but he makes sure that it gets lost somewhere between his head and his mouth and instead says…

¨sure¨ he draws it right out and manages to sound positive, even excited at a push but he still didn´t know if it was the right thing to say.

His hands would have been shaing had he not stowed them away in the pockets of the enormous coat still hanging off of him, he wanted to sit down, to take a breath and give into it, but the box was _right there_ and what´s more he had spectators in a home that wasn´t his or theirs and that box was the thing that had brought all of them together, that and the woman who had written his name on the front in his favorite color.

His new neighbours were stepping forwards now, both taking a seat at the other end of the table as he examined the taped up box, not so much wondering how to get it open as he was thinking up an excuse to keep it shut.

He knew where the scissors were, and the knives and if he had wanted to get this over and done with fast he would have done it already, but this wasn´t ripping off a band aid, it was something delicate and harder than it looked.

So it peeled off the tape, slow and steady, the way you might tear through pretty wrapping paper, folding it up and keeping it for another occasion and once it was off all that was left to do was open the cardboard flaps.

So he did, with a deep breath and his eyes opening wide and then…

Cookbooks. The box was piled high with cookbooks. And he wasn´t just happy, he was smiling with feeling and thrill and something in his heart wasn´t about to let him stop because there couldn´t have been anything better inside that box.

Because it meant something, it was _their_ thing, and no one else could get it but him and her for all he cared but that was all right because he was beaming a pleased and scooping armfuls of books out like he were trying to hug them as a whole.

Most of them were hers, ones he recognized, old and falling to pieces, pages hanging lose and others filled with sticky notes and highlighted in bright pink, and some were even his, one or two at least, and it meant everything because it was something he could, keep on using just as the two of them had for the whole year he´d had to get to know her.

He didn´t even notice the confused looks his neighbours were sending him more than they were the box and it wasn´t until Brad reached over to grab one of the books and read the cover out loud that he remembered he had an audience. ¨cookbooks. Really, that´s what you´re so psyched about?¨

¨Erm, yeah!¨ he said, as if it were something completely obvious and self-explanatory. And it was. To him. ¨these are great, thanks for finding them out for me¨ he sent a freckled smile Jenny´s way and she placed a hand over her heart, warmed by it and completely taken back by just how happy this young man really was, about an old box of _cooking books_ of all things.

¨Well I'm glad you´re pleased with it, she obviously thought you´d like them¨

¨I _love_ them. Oh look, these two are actually mine¨ he continued, plucking a couple more book from the bow and propping them up against the books as he flicked through them likes the pages of a family photo album.

¨ So… why cookbooks?¨ Brad still looked way more confused than any teenager outside of school had any right to and Mikey smiled at that, willing to explain to anyone willing to listen the way he always would be.

¨Oh, that's sort of how we got to know each other¨ he shrugged, smile fueled by the memory crossing his mind. ¨ _And_ how we met, too¨

Sally leaned forwards in her chair a little and Brad leaned back, arms folded but listening and Mikey felt like Leo that split second before he´d used to tell him a bedtime story, sitting on the edge of his bed, quiet and thinking up the beginning of a tale that he´d make up the rest of along the way.

¨She taught me how to cook. My bro´s work, Leo gets back pretty late most nights, and then he has bills and whatnot to take care of¨ all that papery grown-up stuff he avoided like the plague in fear of messing something up. ¨and Raph and Don still have homework and stuff so I do the chores, and the cooking. But when I first moved here I really sucked at it, so I brought all these cookbooks back from the library one day, but then my bag broke and I dropped them all down in the lobby. That´s where Mrs. K found me and she told me _she´d_ teach me if I really wanted to learn, and it was too good an offer to turn down, you know. And after that I was back there every weekend, and she´d always let me pick what we made next. Cause she practically knew every recipe in these things. It was like crazy, she barely needed to read them¨

¨yes, I remember¨ Jenny said, something soft and fond in her eyes. ¨she taught me as well. But I'm surprised she agreed to that¨ she gave him a little smile. ¨I know my mother wasn´t always the easiest person to talk to¨

And Mikey couldn´t really disagree with that one, but it made him chuckle and nod. ¨yeah, but she was great, and she saved my b-¨ he took a minute to rephrase, making Jenny smile like she had even seen it coming ¨she really helped me out¨

Before anyone got a chance to answer Mikey's phone rang out, that silly little ringtone he loved filling the room and grabbing everyone´s attention and when Mikey looked down at his screen it was to see Raph staring back at him, that photo he´d taken of him at work, hovering over the engine of some old truck and looking way more concentrated than he ever did anywhere else.

He didn´t bother answering, because they´d said they ring just to let him know when they were outside, and he knew better than to ask for them to come up and meet their new awesome neighbours but there´d be time for that later, and time wasn´t a luxury they had right at that moment.

¨sorry, that´s my bro´s, do you mind if I pick this up later?¨ he smiled, quickly standing up and packing some of the books back into the box.

¨sure, Mikey, you know where we are¨ Jenny smiled, coming around to his side of the table and shooing his hand away from the books ¨don´t worry, i´ll pack them up, you go on, I know you boys are in a hurry. And tell your brothers I can´t wait to meet them, okay?¨ she was grinning, rubbing Mikey on the back of the shoulder as she stacked away the rest of the books.

¨I will. It was really nice to meet you guys, and if you need anything-¨

¨don´t worry about us, deer, we´ll survive till morning, you go, have fun¨ ¨ he made sure to let his smile go in each and every direction before he headed towards the exit, stopping short when he realized he was making a run for it still wrapped up in Brad's huge coat.

He started to unzip it, hovering at the door.

¨nah, keep it. Just in case¨ Brad stopped him halfway, his arms still folded and that uninterested look on his face back in place. ¨we can make a trade later, ha?¨ he nodded towards the box his mum was just closing up.

¨thanks Brad. See ya Jenny. It was awesome to meet you guys¨

 _I hope you let me know what you guys think, it took me a while to write this one, and though the story line may seem slow right now i swear this is going somewhere XD I just want to introduce all of my characters before the real plotline starts to evolve. XXX to all._

 _p.s: are these chapters too long?_


	5. Chapter 5: unkind regards

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas. Thanks to the person who responded to the chapter length question, I will be sure to keep that up, unfortunately this one is a little shorter. Sorry for taking so long to update, life went crazy there for a while. Hope you enjoy and be sure to get back to me if you have any feedback xxx

Suit shopping had turned out be a lot more fun than Mikey thought it would. But then again, what wasn´t to like about making Raph try on suit after suit, each wackier and weirder than the last? And the fact that Casey- the latest addition to their little crowd of spectators providing no sort of helpful feedback whatsoever- kept throwing in an occasional ¨give us a twirl, stud¨ just made it that much better.

It was fun at first sure, and even April had gotten in on at least five minutes of laughs and ill prepared puns, but after that she´d gotten up, told the guy behind the counter exactly what she wanted and handed some four or five suits over to Raph with strict orders to ´just trust her on this one´

The owner had actually been really nice, he´d let Mikey sit on top of the counter so he could get a better look at the pins and cufflinks he had spread out inside the glass cabinet. He´d proceeded to talk Mikey´s ear off for ages after that, telling him about pins and suits and even how he used to own this huge store in the big city. And for a change, Mikey kind of loved not being the only with something to say. The guy even gave him a free pin, declaring with a wink and a smile that that orange blazer of his was gonna need all the help it could get.

It was awesome too, little and metal, a red background with what looked like a black foot in the middle. He figured it was an antique or something because on the back someone had engraved their initials, FC. He´d patted it proudly and ran up to Raph who´d turned his sower expression into a mocking sort of smile as Mikey showed it off, declaring that it was gonna end up becoming some sort of family air loom one day and that Leo was totally gonna wanna borrow it for work.

¨okay, okay, serious question dude, what kind d´you want?¨Mikey was saying, standing, or better said sitting in front of Raph, his legs dangling off of the breakfast bar because his brother was just too tall to reach. ¨four in hand knot, Winsor knot, half Winsor knot…¨ he was reading off of the tie tying tutorial he´d found on his phone and Raph looked like he´d just been asked to help Don out in his _lab._

Though when they said lab, the term was used loosely and referred to Don´s birds nest of a room, the apartments´ cave of formula covered blackboards and sticky note covered furniture, not to mention the study schedules and homework assignments that lined the walls the way movie posters did in most kids´ rooms.

¨what does that even- you know what?¨ he cut himself off, raking a hand down his face in frustration and slipping his tie off from around his neck ¨this isn´t working. There, no tie, no biggie¨ he threw the cream colored piece of fabric to the side and headed over to the fridge to grab a much needed Gatorade.

Ties were sort of like necklaces for guys right? And they always looked like someone had just grabbed a long piece of material, wrapped it around their neck and tied a knot in it. So why had they spent the last fifteen minutes trying to figure this thing out?

¨no way! sis told me not to let you go without one¨ he recalled, something about it pulling the whole outfit together or whatever. He jumped down off of the counter, whipping up the tie and heading over to his grumpy hotpants himself. ¨and she got scary about it too¨

It was funny how the best yet most dangerous thing about girls is that they always have each other's backs, and when it came to April´s friends, even new additions such as Mona, you really didn´t want to mess with that cardinal rule.

¨yeah well, April´s not here¨ he rolled his eyes, taking a swig from the bottle as he used the other hand to unbutton the top of his white collar shirt.

With an irritated sigh Mikey slumped forwards, arms dangling down in front of him like a sleepy sloth as he eyed the bottle in his brother's hand.¨ fine¨ he shot back upright, folding his arms together as needed to pull off his most smuggest of faces. ¨fine, I won´t tell if you let me have some¨ he shot a glance at the bottle.

All he got was a raised eyebrow in return, that face Raph gave you when it seemed like you couldn´t have said anything more ridiculous to him, but there was a smile hiding behind that curl in his lip, and that just meant you were about to get burned. ¨yeah, I'm pretty sure the last thing you need is anymore energy, Mike¨ he ran a hand through his little brothers hair and headed back over toward the kitchen counter.

There was no point in ironing out his curls, hair ruffles were as constant in a little brothers life as bills were in a grow-ups Mikey had come to find. And he was the youngest of _four_ , which meant there´d be plenty more where that came from before the night was over.

¨dude, so unfair¨

¨to us when you´re bouncing off the walls? I agree¨ he shook his head, winking to cushion the blow as he finally sat himself down at the breakfast bar.

There was a loud bang that made both their heads flip towards the door- the second loudest thing in their apartment next to Mikey- and seconds later Leo was standing at the entrance, sort of disheveled, dark circles under his eyes that would never suit the smile that spread across his face every single time he pushed his way through that door and looked up to see one of his brothers staring back at him.

¨Leo!¨ Mikey was running towards him before the older boy even had time to drop his bag, but with just enough time to know to open his arms. The hand that made its way through golden curls was practically driven by habit and the smile that met Raph´s eyes wasn´t one that even he would bother hiding.

¨you´re early¨ he noted with a lopsided smile, heading over to the fridge and grabbing Leo an energy drink of his own. Raph wasn´t much the type that found it easy to relate, but he knew what a hard day looked like.

Mikey´s hugs had always been just a little like sinking sand: soft, squishy and almost impossible to get out of. But once Leo had untangled himself he reached out to grab the drink, keeping the other arm around his little brothers shoulders. ¨thanks. Good to see you too, kiddo, but aren´t you supposed to be getting ready?¨ he asked, making a beeline for the kitchen counter, lifting tired feet off of a hard floor.

¨s´not like there´s much to work with¨ Raph jived, nudging Mikey´s side on his way past.

¨yeah, yeah, you´re just mad cos you couldn´t figure out the tie thing¨

¨oh, my- would you just go get ready so we can get this thing over with?¨ Raph stressed, that wrinkle in his brow making an early appearance as he sat himself across from his brother.

¨go on, Mikey, we´ve been waiting all week for the return of the infamous orange blazer¨ Leo shot him a wink and that was really all he needed to hear.

So he made his way out of the kitchen, his feet dragging behind him and his eyes unable to look forwards. Leo was never extremely talkative when he got home, or at all for that matter, and he wasn't acting on some newfound worry when he stopped to look his brother over, he was acting on a sense of déjà vu that brought him right back to how things used to be, right after the accident.

¨hard day?¨ he heard Raph ask just before he forced himself inside their shared room.

He knew the answer, he just didn´t want to stick around to hear it.

Once his sunny blazer was on and his new pin was in place he headed back out into the kitchen to find Leo standing in front of Raph. ¨and pull tight¨ he instructed as he fixed Raph´s tie. ¨there, easier than it looks, right?¨

He wasn´t sure why but the fact that Raph actually looked like he was listening for a change made him smile, and then as if on quew both heads bobbed his way, lighting up, even if was in that brotherly way you just knew would be followed up with a joke or a pre prepared pun. And Raph had no doubt been preparing all week.

¨oh man, I think ya blinded me¨ Raph, not known to often pass up a mocking opportunity managed to get in, covering his eyes with the palm of his hand.

¨not my fault you can´t handle my awesomeness, man¨ he just struck a pose in response, hands on hips and everything.

But whatever witty retort was about to come flying back his way was cut short when Donnie came galloping in, his phone pressed to his ear, still in the same clothes he´d been wearing all day and most curious of all, and uncharacteristic as it was, completely losing his cool with the unlucky soul on the other end of the phone.

The thing you have to know about Donnie is that he was the kind of guy who reckoned to have 99 problems. The only _real_ problem was that 98 of them were usually completely made up scenarios in his head that he´d stress out about for absolutely no reason whatsoever. But he never lost his cool, no, not with people, he´d usually bottle it up and in a few months, if someone ticked him off just the right amount that poor unfortunate soul would get the verbal pounding of his life.

¨I don´t care if you think your fancy new motor is better suited for this project, I have been working on my prototype for months and I intend to finish it, with your help, or without it, but I am certainly not in a position where I'm willing to just hand over my assignment to some overbearing, high maintenance, attention seeking …-

Mikey zoned out when the adjectives started getting too hard to understand and instead turned towards the others in hope of some kind of explanation as to what the heck was going on. ¨dudes?¨ he tugged on Leo´s shirt sleeve.

¨heck if we know, kid¨ Raph shrugged, arms crossed and watching Donnie pace up and down the kitchen.

¨well, we´ll find out soon enough, I guess¨ Leo chuckled softly, draping his arms over Mikey´s shoulders from behind and watching Donnie worriedly.

It was a Leo thing to worry even when the rest of them were holding back laughter. He had to admit, Donnie was funny when he was mad, unless he was mad at you that is.

¨yo, Braniac, something we should know about before you break the phone?¨ Raph was brave enough to ask.

¨not now, Raph!¨ he snapped back, eyes going wide like a caged animal who´s food you were trying to steal.

¨okay I tried, you´re up, Leo¨

Leo sent his younger brother an unamused look, like Donnie were some sort of ticking time bomb not to be prodded or taken lightly. So they kind of just sat back and watched, silently pondering the possible scenarios that could have set him off.

Donnie slouched forwards, a look on his face depicting true annoyance. ¨would you stop babbling, how many times do I have to tell you, I can´t understand you when you start skipping vowels!¨ he paused, probably to catch his breath. ¨this isn´t up for discussion, Stockman, it was assigned to me and there´s no way I'm handing it over to you after all the work I've put into it. And the fact that you would have the audacity to suggest I won't have time for it because I have to work is just ridiculous, but you wouldn´t know anything about that would you?¨ he paused, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. ¨Well I´m sorry to hear that, maybe you should take it up with Mrs Alopex. Have a nice night! ¨

He slammed his phone shut and set it down on the tabletop, running a hand down his face as a moment of stunned silence went by.

¨have a nice night?¨ Raph smirked.

And then as if all the anger got lost somewhere inside him he looked up, blushing slightly ¨did I ruin it?¨

¨no, no, have a nice day is a great way to end an angry rampage¨ his smirk grew so wide he had no choice but to let out his laugher. Even Don was smiling a little now, but he still wasn´t quite ready to notice that everyone around him was dressed and ready to go.

¨was that that stockman kid again? you know if he keeps giving you problems I should really talk to one of your teachers, Donnie. Especially if he´s interfering with your school work¨ Leo said, his legal guardian coming out, then again, everything about Leo screamed guardian these days.

Responsibility is a hard thing to assign, but Leo earned it a little more each day.

¨no, it´s not that¨ Don waved an airy hand ¨he´s just…¨

¨totally jealous¨ Mikey grinned because he knew it was true. Baxter Stockman had been trying to outdo Don since freshman year. He was an honors student, but Don always seemed to have the edge, better grades, better projects, Don wasn´t limited by much, and when someone does something so effortlessly while you're bending over backwards to come out on top it can be kind of annoying. But that was Don, and just because it came so easily for Don Didn´t mean he hadn´t earned it. Sometimes passion just takes you further than repetition, even when it comes to studying.

Don´s face kind of just lit up a little, looking at Mikey like nothing could ever bother him again. ¨thanks, Mike, but I don´t think that´s it, buddy. He just thinks he can do everything better than me when it comes to technology, and all because his father is an engineer. And now he wants to take over my project because he thinks he can do it better!¨he was back to stressing. ¨I've been working on it for months, and that´s why he thinks I'm struggling. The only reason it´s taking me so long is because I have to supply some of the parts myself and with work i-¨

No one quite missed the way Leo´s face fell at the mention of supplies, and work for that matter. It was never something he´d wanted for his brothers, but it wasn´t exactly optional anymore. And Don looked as if he wanted to up and run when he saw Leo´s face drop.

¨you know, Mikey´s probably right¨

Everyone turned to look at Raph.

¨it´s a rare occasion but it does happen¨ he grinned, running a hand through his littlest brother's hair. ¨that kid´s been competing with you ever since you got to that school and it´s only because he used to be the teacher's pet till you got there. everyone´s sayi'n it, D¨ he shrugged.

Don gave him a lopsided smile and then seemed to realize something. ¨oh man, I need to get dressed¨ he bolted out of the room. ¨i´ll be quick!¨

¨wai- ugh¨ Leo called but the door was already slamming behind the brains of the family. His shoulders sank a little.

¨eh, don´t worry about it, Leo, that kid´s just jealous. Plus you should see how the teachers at school worship the guy. He could blow up the lab with one o´ his inventions and they´d still love ´em¨ Raph put a hand on his shoulder.

¨you´re probably right. I mean, he´d tell us if things got out of hand¨ he seemed to think about it for a moment ¨right? ¨

¨jeez, Leo, quit worrying, it´s aging ya¨

All Mikey really knew about Mona´s family was that they were kind of a big deal in their area, everyone knew her dad was a high earning lawyer with a briefcase strapped to his hand and her mother was an always traveling designer with a brand new purse always strapped to hers. Mikey had never met them, but now he had a chance to he wasn´t about to listen when people said they were snooty and uptight, not when he had a chance to find out for himself.

And as much as people reckoned to know about them, no one had really figured out where Mona had gotten her personality from. She was the kid with different colored hair tips every week, the girl who rode a Harley like a bullet train and she was someone who _never_ complained about anything not being good enough.

Surely something that great couldn't have come from anything so bad, right?

Once they´d finally made it out of the apartment, Raph got a message saying that she´d sent a cab to collect them, which was a relief to Leo, who really hadn´t been looking forward to showing up somewhere so fancy in the family tin can. That didn´t mean he wouldn´t try paying her back the second he got there.

And sure enough, the driver, who introduced himself as S. Bitez was there waiting for them. Raph called shotgun, which was fair enough, after all the carriage had been sent by _his_ princess, a joke he hadn´t appreciated as Mikey settled in by the window.

¨hey, Leo, have you ever been to this place before? ¨ Mikey turned to look up at Leo, who was sat beside him, adjusting his tie for probably the seventh time that night.

¨ha? Oh, no buddy, I haven´t. but it should be great, ha? ¨ He reached over to ruffle his hair. And _that´s_ why he skipped out on the hair gel.

The only reason Mikey really asked was because Leo used to love art, mostly the renaissance, and no doubt it had come from their mother, who he figured for reasons no one had trouble understanding was quite the fan herself.

¨hey, Leo? ¨

¨hm? ¨

¨what happened to all those books you used to read? You know, those really heavy art ones you used to look at¨ he asked, curiously, but also kind of carefully. Leo wasn´t a guy who liked looking back at things.

But luckily it didn´t stop his smile, he just tilted his head a little, as if remembering ¨ I think I gave them to the library. Why, did you want to read them?¨ he smiled, looking a little surprised.

Everyone knew that Mikey and books just didn´t really mix well. They usually ended up being drooled on after they were finished putting him to sleep.

¨nah, way too many pages for me, bro. I just remembered you liked that sort of thing. So maybe you´ll like Mona´s stuff too, right?¨ he beamed, he was kinda excited about having a night out, but he wanted everyone else to be too.

¨course I will, abstract art is great if you know a little about what you´re looking at. Even more so if you can ask the artist herself¨ he said fondly.

The drive there was mostly quiet, which made Mikey kind of nervous, but it was the end of the week and everyone looked kinda tired so he didn´t bug them with eye spy and number plate games. He just watched the landscape change, from apartment building, to houses, to bigger houses and then when it felt like they had driven so far that they might be heading into the big city, the car stopped at this huge building with a sign out front saying ¨art expo tonight¨

Mikey´s nose was pressed up against the glass in a way that probably didn´t look too attractive from the other side, but it didn´t really matter when he caught sight of the place he´d be spending his night. It had glass windows, squeaky clean like no one had tried drawing on them in their life, and the people walking inside looked like mannequins in a designer shop window.

It was so new and cool and man was he going to have a great time with his brothers.

¨dude¨ Mikey smiled excitedly ¨whoever spots the most monocles wins!¨ he called before hopping out of the car and onto the pavement. The others weren´t far behind him and Mona-unrecognizable as she was- found them, running towards Raph with her heels in her hands and barreling into him with a hug.

Raph pulled apart and grinned, taking in her long silver fitted dress, matching diamond necklace, her neatly braided bun, makeup and most of all lack of biker boots. She _had_ warned them that the dress code had inspired her mother to go crazy fashionista on her. ¨you know, I know a girl who would flip if she saw that amount of glitter all at once¨

She swung her arms around his neck and smiled ¨funny, I know a guy who´d run from a handsome stranger in a sharp tux¨

¨that right?¨ he looked down at the heels hanging from her hand ¨ really? So how long did you last in them?¨

¨hey, when women come up with our version of a hideous pain inducing accessory to make your butt´s look smaller you can judge ¨

When Mikey and the others had made their way up to them Raph stood back blushing slightly like he always did whenever his brothers saw him around his girl and Mona passed her shoes over to him before handing out three big hugs. Mikey loved seeing Mona, it always came with hugs, their awesome secret handshake and embarrassing Raph.

¨I hope you know I'm not carrying these things around all night¨

¨I'm so glad you guys are here, you´re gonna love it, seriously. I mean my parents planned it so there´s probably gonna be a lot of standing around and really small food on trays, but hey, Casey and April are already inside¨

¨sounds great. Thanks for the invite, and for the cab, you really didn´t have to, if you want I can-¨ Leo started saying.

¨Leo, relax, it´s my pleasure. Just remember it when you have to make Smalltalk with my dad's over eccentric work friends¨ she winked.

Leo seemed to loosen up a bit at that ¨well, still, thanks¨ he said before Mikey grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the entrance, zigzagging through the bustling crowd. ¨come on, Leo!¨

Leo didn´t quite miss how his little brothers hand loosed around his and his mouth fell agape as they got inside. Donnie seemed to notice too because he knowingly looked back at him and then smiled down at Mikey.

¨you okay there, Mikey?¨

¨holy sewer apples, this place is like… like a castle! You know like one of those ballrooms they always have¨ he said wide eyed and looking around the place with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. ¨it´s huge!¨

Yeah, it was. The ceilings were way above their heads and there seemed to be chandeliers everywhere. The floors looked so smooth Mikey was having trouble resisting the urge to slide across them like an ice rink. The room was bare except for the smartly dressed people and the canvases spread out around the room.

¨you think it echoes? I bet it echoes¨ he realized, putting a hand either side of his mouth to help his voice sound even louder ¨ech-.¨he started to shout before Leo´s hand was covering his mouth.

¨okay, maybe not now, Mike¨ he laughed nervously, dodging the weird looks they were getting from the mannequin crew as they walked through the door. he let go and pat him on the head, shoving don and Mike forwards a little when they started blocking the entrance.

But as they walked they were still looking up at the chandeliers. They were everywhere so it looked like the rain had been stopped midair. In their daze they hadn´t even realized the white coated waiter standing in front of them with a tray of glasses outstretched his way. ¨champagne, gentlemen?¨

This was way too much to be true. The cab had driven ages to get there, sure, but how the heck did you go from faulty doors and peeling wallpaper to… this?

¨no, way! Just like in the movies¨ Mikey reached out to grab one but Leo guided his hand away, excusing the three of them. ¨nice try, Mike, maybe when you´re twentyone, ha?¨ he laughed, draping an arm around his shoulders.

¨hey, we should probably try to find April and Casey. Jones just texted me they´re by the bathrooms waiting for us¨ Donnie rolled his eyes with a smile, looking dapper in the black blazer his monkey arms were almost outgrowing. He´d been nervous about seeing April all night, so Leo didn´t object to him running off to find them.

¨sounds good. You go, we´ll wait for you all by the paintings¨

He nodded before disappearing into the sea of people.

¨well, if you want me to wear them you´re gonna have to be prepared to be leaned on a lot¨ Mona was saying from behind them, making them both spin around. ¨that reminds me, you should come meet my parents, I kind of told them you´d be coming¨

Raph went bright red at the request, which was always fun to see. ¨w-what? You never said anything about _meeting_ them¨ he stammered. But Mikey couldn´t blame him, he´d heard some stories that made them seem… well a bit of a tough crowd.

¨what are you so worried about? All you have to do is say hi and leave, they´re gonna be swarmed with work friends all night anyway so they won´t think you rude. So, let´s get it over and done with now so that you don´t spend the night all fidgety and nervous like you are now¨ she mocked, smirking under her purple lipstick.

¨I´m not fidgety¨ was the best thing Raph could come up with at that moment.

¨sure you´re not. Besides, my dad really isn´t that bad, he´s kinda nice when you get to know him¨

¨how long does that take?¨

¨Raph¨ Leo said in that convincing tone that works wonders when one of them was already half convinced they were being ridiculous. ¨it was nice of them to pay for our tickets- another thing Leo wasn´t comfortable with- the least you could do is say hi¨

¨yeah! Plus I've seen her dad around school, he has the raddest moustache ever. Think about it, guys with moustaches have gotta have a great sense of humour¨

¨you´re logic is so not helpful right now, Mikey¨ he grumbled when Mona laughed ¨don´t encourage him¨

Now that he thought about it history wouldn´t really agree with him on that one either.

¨so, ready yet?¨

¨fine, I'm going, I'm going¨ he surrendered, even he knew it wasn´t worth wasting time on something you were being forced into.

¨have fun, bro¨ Mikey called out as they left, more out of fun that support.

¨yeah, yeah, keep an eye on Skippy, Leo, I can already see him chasing food trays all night¨ he called back, more because of the fact that Mikey had a tendency to wander off in places he found cool.

¨should I be offended by that?¨

¨well… we´ll get him back later, let´s be the first to check out the art, ha?¨ Leo led him over to the first row of paintings.

There were so many of them Mikey didn´t even know where to start. There were a few people around the canvasses, strolling by with glasses of champagne in their hands and glancing over at them as they passed, but Mikey seemed to be the only one really looking at them. Leo said you had to get creative with abstract art, that you had to look for something in it. What he was looking for exactly was beyond him.

 ** _Tling tling, tling tling, tling tling_**

Mikey chuckled as Leo groaned, pulling out his phone to find out that yes, it was work calling. He sighed, sending Mikey an apologetic look and brushing his cheek ¨I'm really sorry buddy, I need to take this. I´ll be right back, promise. Stay where I can see you¨ he flipped open the phone, but turning back around, seemingly unsatisfied with the degree of his warning ¨seriously, Michelangelo, no wandering off, and that means for food too¨

¨dude, I must be at the wrong place, Mona said this was gonna be a party¨ he groaned, earning a smile from Leo ad he shook his head and headed outside to take the call.

It _was_ pretty loud in there, not so much because of the music, but more because of the people, clanking glasses and tapping stilettoes. So he went back to looking at the brightly colored paint splattered work of art in front of him called ¨ the brighter side of life¨

¨So tell me, what do you see?¨ a voice boomed, deep and accented and seeming to appear from out of nowhere.

He almost laughed, that seemed like the typical thing people said around art and as happy as he was to see another person actually taking an interest it, the man standing next to him kind of left him speechless.

There was something about him that made Mikey wonder if he should be talking to this stranger at all, even in a room filled with people. It wasn´t just that voice, a voice that came out as a growl, it was everything about the guy that just screamed trouble.

He had no right to jump to conclusions, he wouldn´t, but that didn´t mean he couldn´t admit that the guy looked kind of creepy. He was one of the few not wearing a suit, instead he had this sort of long robe on, black with long sleeves and the tail dragging behind him. the thing that struck him most were the scars all along both sides of his face and scalp, pink and raised and clearly the reason that all he had for hair was a long black ponytail t hanging from the nape of his neck that needed really be tied back at all.

¨erm…¨ he droned nervously. He didn´t want to be rude. ¨Honestly, kinda looks like a monkey got into the paint to me¨ he said, shyly, feeling completely out of place ¨but I'm kind of new at this so…¨

The man didn´t even flinch, instead just staring ahead at the painting, his jaw locked and his eyes in a fierce glare. ¨I think you´ll find there is more than meets the eye. An inner turmoil, you could say, disguised behind the frivolous façade which bright colors can often emit. Perhaps it masks a true self, one on the verge of breaking free of this false pride, this happiness the most ignorant of people hide behind, searching for something darker, a sinner's birth perhaps¨ he narrated in a Japanese accent, but it was nothing like sensei's used to be, it was much stronger, like he´d only been visiting for a couple of days.

Mikey kind of just stood there because of all the words in the world, of all the phrases, what do you say to _that_?

¨Wow, that´s… deep¨ he said, feeling kind of uncomfortable at the fact that the man still hadn´t once glanced his way. ¨You really got all that from a painting?¨

¨I wasn´t talking about the painting¨

Mikey swallowed once, twice. Maybe that was the point he should have walked away.

He was about to excuse himself, just smile and say he had to find his brothers, but before he could even open his mouth to speak the man had started up again.

¨art is all the same, in the end. Take a landscape piece, for instance. A sakura tree on a hill. Remove the blossoms, there is still a tree, remove the tree, and there is still a hill, people will still call it art regardless. Family is like that also, remove a member, and the bloodline will continue, what difference does it truly make? Wouldn't you agree, Michelangelo?¨

Mikey froze. He´d never been so scared in all of his life, not by a person, and he´d definitely never been rendered speechless by fear before. He forgot how to breathe. Who was this guy? how did he know his name?

¨Wha… I…¨ but it wasn´t even worth it. And just in case he wasn´t already frightened enough, the man chose that exact moment to turn his head and look Mikey straight in the eye. One of his eyes was completely white as if he were blind, and the skin above the other was dropped almost completely over his eye, as if the fire had melted the lid. But that wasn´t the worst of it, the worst part was the smile that spread across his face, a cold evil grin that no smile should ever look like.

Mikey wanted to run, just turn and bolt, but the man's eyes glanced over Mikey´s shoulder and whatever he saw there had him turning to walk away. ¨you better be getting back to your brothers now, young Leonardo will be worried¨

He watched the man disappear into the crowd without another word and then jumped half a mile into the air when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, making him spin around.

¨Woah, sorry if I scared you, kiddo. Didn´t you hear me calling you?¨ but Mikey was so relieved that he barely heard a word, he just stepped forwards and pressed his face into the front of Leo´s jacket, willing himself not to cry, because then, if his brother´s knew, _that_ would make it real. Even worse, it would make them worry.

¨Mikey?¨ Leo already sounded worried ¨Mikey, look at me¨ he took a deep breath and when he looked up at his older brother he´d forced a smile into place. ¨you´re as white as a sheet, buddy, are you feeling okay?¨ that comforting hand he recognized from every time he'd ever been sick was laying flat against his forehead.

¨what?¨he pulled away with a little chuckle, like he had no idea what he could be talking about ¨Raph was right, bro, you worry way too much. Come on, let me show you this rad painting¨

He felt kind of bad for not telling Leo about the stranger, or that he knew their name, or that he scared the freckles off him, but it was probably nothing, it was probably just some eccentric guy one of them knew from work or… or something like that.

He wasn´t about to ruin everyone´s night, so after peering over his shoulder one last time he dragged Leo over to the next set of paintings.


	6. Chapter 6: Undiscovered truths

Hi guys! Again, I am so sorry about the crazy long wait, things have been mad over here between school and then trying to get into uni, but everything is back on track now and you can expect to get the next chapter a loooot sooner. This chapter probably doesn´t have as much of our four main boys in it as you´d hoped for because i wanted to get more into the past of some of the other characters first but the next one will be full of Mikey and bro´s which hopefully will make up for it. As always I love hearing from you guys so please comment or even private message me for any suggestions. Also I promised myself I would dedicate this chapter to the great Skye7diamond for all of her support and ideas, so this one goes out to you and also a big hug to ALL of my readers. Thank you for your endless patience. Enjoy!

The crazy weather was finally starting to die down, last night´s pitter patter of rain against the windows the last they´d hear of it for some time, and now the sun was out, shining through the glass and making rainbows against the kitchen wall.

People always say that if you want the rainbow you have to endure the rain. Those guys, the unbearable optimists, would probably be waking up that morning, light streaming through their curtains, thinking that it was going to be one of those wonderful, merciful days. As if good days randomly showed up out of blue from somewhere behind a mass of dark clouds. Some people might even see it as a fresh start.

After all, wasn´t that a nice thought to wake up to?

But the boy sitting at the table staring at the kitchen wall couldn´t muster up more than a scowl, too busy eyeing all those shades mixing together like watercolors to notice his cereal had gone soggy.

He scoffed at the last sliver of optimism in him, wondering where he could have even gotten it from at this point. After all, when it came to his life, all that a moment of peace and quiet meant was that he was in the eye of the storm.

He stood up and slammed the windows shut with a bang, spinning around to see a startled face standing by the door.

speaking of unbearable optimists…

¨I _was_ going to say good morning, but I guess not, ha?¨ she smiled, a sweet little teasing thing crossing her lips before it turned into worry, a mother´s specialty. ¨everything okay?¨ she ventured, ironing the creases out of her fanciest pencil skirt with a sweep of her hand.

Another interview, he assumed.

He took a moment to just look at her, thinking that his mother could be beautiful if she were transported into someone else´s life. If she had never met that man. Or maybe if someone had just told her sooner. She was the kind of person who was always smiling. It wasn´t happiness though, it was just that old instinct she had that told her if she smiled and joked around, her little boy would never notice what went on in his own home, between his own parents. Old habits like that tend to die hard when you have someone you think still needs protecting. And let´s face it, who doesn´t have someone they want to protect in a world always hunting for pray?

But when she wasn´t smiling, when her happy mask chipped just the slightest bit, her lips would turn down in this almost cartoonlike frown, as if they´d never even tried a grin out before.

And it worked. For a while. How could it not when she always insisted they go for a late night stroll before bed, or that they go to the library while she read and he finished his homework? There was always something, he just never realized he should have been thanking her for it until it was too late. Until he´d seen it with his own eyes.

Turns out the older you get the harder it is to hide things from you.

She was dressed for job hunting in a pencil skirt and her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. She smiled in his direction, lighting up the room again despite his previous efforts. You´d think her lucky for still looking so young, but the truth is she deserved more laughter lines than the ones she had.

¨Mum, who called this morning? ¨ He strode forwards, his hands tightening into fists.

He wasn´t mad. He didn´t get mad, his father did. _He_ hid behind his mother's legs, gripping onto her jeans as glass bottles smashed around their feet. They took him on together. No, they took his hits together. But he knew what his mother's face looked like when she was scared and right now it was staring back at _him_ for a change.

¨Oh, just a wrong number, sweetie¨ the look on her face was gone as fast as it came. ¨ hung up as soon as I answered¨ she was used to lying. After all, the only thing that makes a good person into a liar is a bad one. And his mother had spent twenty years around a fabrication expert. So he definitely knew what she looked like when she was trying to hide something from him. ¨don´t you just hate that¨

But she knew exactly what he was getting at. Of course she did, she´d been thinking it all morning.

¨So do you think it was him?¨ there was no building up to a question like that, no need for Smalltalk. There´s honestly never any need to break the ice when you can´t think of a single thing more important than what you have to ask. She made herself look busy, picking up a stray plate left over from the night before and scrubbing it raw, as if the sound of sponge against pot would be loud enough to block out the questions she clearly didn´t want to answer.

But his eyes weren´t leaving her for a second.

She sighed, pulling a hand up to her face, as if trying to iron out the lines that years of being asked that question had created. It was no use, her son knew her like the back of his hand in every way that mattered, so instead she signaled for him to sit down.

¨sweetheart, listen to me. People dial the wrong number all the time, there´s no reason for us to assume anything ¨ her hand landed on top of his but it didn´t have much of an effect. ¨he has no idea where we are¨

¨He´s found us before. What makes this place any different?¨ he glanced down, fighting back a snicker that probably would have come out quite disrespectful. ¨we´re hiding at your _mothers´ house_ , why _wouldn´t_ he look here? I told you this was a bad idea but you wouldn´t listen. And now… I don´t even know what happens now¨

He had a reason to be worried, though. He had three reasons to be exact. This was the third time they´d packed up their lives and moved away, it was going to be his third first day at a new school and his third second chance as his mother liked to see it. That didn´t mean he didn´t hate being the one to see her face drop whenever he ridded her of even the slightest bit of hope.

That was the difference between the two of them, she was hopeful even when nothing seemed to be on her side, even when the same problem had creeped up on her a thousand times. Sometimes it made him wonder if he took after her at all, it made him wonder if he was really like… like him instead.

¨your father never-¨

She found herself cut off with one chilling look and quickly scrambled to change her words ¨He¨ she corrected. ¨never knew about your grandmother. They never even met. The two of us stopped talking years before you were born. I´d send her photos of you, letters… but I never told him about her. He never knew. That´s why we´re here¨

She was smiling again, and for some reason that always made thing feel less real ¨sweetie, you know I hate putting you through this, and I know it gets harder every time… but you must know by now that it´s either this or… or him. we can´t go back to that life, Brad, not after…¨ her voice chocked before she could stop it, her son´s hand landing on top of hers and giving it a tight squeeze. She looked up at him like this was the most important part. ¨not after he started hitting you too¨

It took everything he had in him that early in the morning not to break down right then and there, but it´s usually time to step up when the person you rely on for strength is down. He sucked in a breath through his nose and let her continue.

¨ I didn´t want that for you, it´s no life for a kid. It´s no life for anyone. So if there´s even the slightest chance that I can give you a decent one while you´re still living with me, then I´m going to try. But you have to try too, Brad, you have to give this place a chance. I can´t do it by myself. What do you think?¨

In an ideal world, a world he knew his mum deserved, her kid would look up at her now, give her the biggest whitest smile she´d ever seen and say something like: I think the third time´s the charm, Ma.

But that just wasn´t him. And that´s just not the world.

¨we'll see, mum¨ he squeezed her hand back, a small smile gracing his lips before he could convince himself it didn´t belong there. ¨i´ll try¨

¨that´s all I can ask¨

And of course she believed him, because it´s all she had left.

A knock on the door cut through the silence that followed and a loud squeaky voice wasn´t far behind it ¨yow, rad Braaaad, it´s the Mikester!¨ he sounded quite proud of this fact. Either that or of the apparently new nickname he´d just decided on.

He´d find out later on that it was always hard to pinpoint exactly what Michelangelo Hamato was excited about.

There was something annoying in finding happiness so early in the morning, he decided with groan and no intention of getting up as his mother grinned widely and slid to her feet with practiced poise.

¨What does he want _now_?¨ and just like that, the soggy bowl of whatever kind of cereal the mush in front of him used to be, became a whole lot more interesting.

¨aw, don´t be like that. I kind of like the kid¨ she smiled, never making a move to open the door. The hands on her hips tilted head stance meant that was _his_ job.

¨you barely know him¨ he countered.

¨yes well, the less you know someone the less reasons you have not to like them. Which means you just can´t be bothered. Besides, I don´t have to. Your Nan did, remember?¨

¨so? ¨

¨ _So_ your nan didn´t even like herself most days and things like old family recipes and your name in someone's will mean a hell of a lot more when you ain´t related¨ she stopped herself ¨not related¨ she corrected. She´d always been weirdly careful about the way she spoke but she hadn´t quite figured out how to get away from her roots quite yet. Truth be told, her fancy talk slipped away completely whenever she was mad, not that she´d notice. ¨so go. Stop with the moody teenager act for a second and answer the door, would you?¨

But she wasn´t asking.

¨it´s more of a life choice, to be honest¨ he mumbled, not really for anyone to hear just because he found it helpful to grumble while doing something against his will.

Without even the slightest intention of rushing, he got to his feet and made his way to the door, swinging it open to find way too much smile for 7:30 am. Not that he hadn´t noticed the first time they´d met, but Michelangelo´s hair really did just do whatever it wanted, falling over his eyes and tucked behind his ears at the same time, golden and messy and not bearing even the slightest resemblance to the kid standing behind-

 _Oh, crap._

There was no doubting it was Raphael Hamato standing there in a bad mood at a not so towering as he expected height. So sure, it was kind of relieving that He wasn´t as tall as Chris, but what he lacked in size he made up for in muscle and glaring capacity. His hair was shaved at both sides but long down the middle, like a big hairy caterpillar crawling up the middle of his head and his eyes were still that bright piercing green that could cut through you like steel if you stared for too long.

He took a step back and tried to look casual, glancing down at the skateboard in Michelangelo´s hand and the school bags they were both carrying. He knew what was coming before he´d even said it, and yet, he wasn´t about to budge.

¨you ready?¨ the kid asked, rocking back on his heels.

¨for?¨ he arched his brow, the best way to get your low level of interest across, he found.

¨school, duh!¨ as if it were some magical circus that pulled into town only once a decade. ¨you´re walking with us¨ he said it so matter-of-factly, like he´d written it on their calendar the last time he´d been over.

¨and when did you decide this? ¨ He crossed his arms, falling to the side to lean against the door frame.

¨by my account, six minutes ago¨ Raphael stepped into the conversation, clearly not appreciating the back and forth questioning they had going on. ¨you coming or not?¨ it took him less than a second to realize that the two brothers didn´t have a single physical trait in common, but he figured he´d put a pin in that and leave it for later. It was still too early for this.

But before he could answer, a not so gentle hand was pushing him through the doorway, his rucksack landing by his feet as he looked back to see his mother sending Michelangelo a wink ¨Morning boys. He´d love to walk with you both, I have work to get to anyway¨ she pierced him with a tight smiled look that only a true son would recognise to be a possible death sentence. ¨so are you the eldest? Mikey tells me he´s the youngest of four¨ she smiled, all crossed armed and smiling like an angel while she dug for gossip.

¨no, mam, that´s Leo. Leonardo. I'm Raph, nice to meet you¨ a sentence that courteous should have sounded forced, but he said it with a smile and wrapped it up with a handshake that had his mother delighted.

¨Jenny. Well you tell your brother for me that I´d love to have you all over for dinner sometime¨ she smiled and got a nod in return.

¨we´d love that¨

¨great. Well, I won´t keep you any longer. It was lovely to meet you, and to see you again, sweetie¨ she smiled at Mikey who was beaming.

And just in case that hadn´t been embarrassing enough, his mother pulled him back by the shoulder and planted a peck on his cheek. ¨behave¨ she didn´t forget to whisper as she pulled away.

Honestly, he didn´t care how old a person got, it´s truly impossible to forget how embarrassing parents can be around their kid´s friends. And yet, the tradition of public child embarrassment gets handed down to each generation.

Jenny pressed her back against the door with a sigh and let herself smile as she heard a joyous whoop erupt from the other side. That definitely hadn´t been her son. That would never be her son and she had come to terms with it.

losing hope of finding better things ahead came with never having had much to look forward to, and she couldn´t blame him for that, she could barely tell him that he was wrong to mistake an anonymous phone call for his dad after everything that they´d been through. She didn´t know whether it was him or not either. She felt the worry and the paranoid feelings too whenever something had even the slightest chance of being him, but her hope, that one sliver of optimism she was clinging onto kept her from accepting it. And maybe that was exactly what kept getting them caught.

Her eyes sauntered over to the kitchen and before she´d even realized she´d moved she was holding a photo of a five year old Chris in his school uniform she had pulled off of the fridge. She´d taken that on his first day of school, holding up her brand new camera and saying ¨smile for grandma, Chris¨ to a boy who barely knew her. That´s how they´d talk, letters and postcards, old fashioned seeing as her mother had never had the slightest intent on mastering technology.

The fridge was full of the photos she had sent over the years, placed neatly under food shaped magnets against the fridge and it was silly but it made her eyes well, knowing this was the only way she´d seen her grandson grow up. There were other things scattered about the surface, recipes and a list of dishes titled ¨Mikey´s must tries¨ written in a messy boyish hand writing with a drawing of a pie in the bottom corner.

She was grateful for the smiley blue-eyed kid next door, really she was, but she couldn´t help but feel that it should be her son´s name up there instead. She´d met her grandson only once, and the fact that that was her fault made it even worse.

She had always been so smart, and her mother, though she found her own disguised ways of showing it had always been so proud of her. She´d always made her believe that she could go far in life, and isn´t that all you really need from a parent? So when she showed up one day with a baby in her arms belonging to a man whom she´d just agreed to marry, she doubted it´s what she´d had in mind for her.

How unimaginable, she thought now, that the best thing that life had given her would be the start of everything else crashing down around her.

They´d sat at that table, talking, not like mother and daughter, but the way a lawyer might talk to their client, putting all of the truth on the table while the other chose what to believe. She´d seen the bruises on her wrists, yanked back her sleeves and put two and two together. After that, she´d begged them to stay, to keep far away from that man and she had vowed to help raise that baby better than he ever could.

¨you silly girl, he´ll hit him too one day, ya know? Ya deserve better than this, yer son deserves better than this¨ she could still hear those words as clear as day and that loud echoing sound the door made when she slammed it behind her for the last time.

¨so if you´re starting school that must mean you guys are planning on sticking around, ha?¨ the boy looked back at Raphael, who so far hadn´t said a word to him but was now pinning him with a sideways glance that made him sort of edgy.

It wasn´t his demeanour that had him on edge though, that gruff voice that sounded like it had threatened so many lowlifes that it was just stuck that way now. It wasn´t even the way he kept absentmindedly cracking his knuckles. He was on edge because the things he had heard about this guy didn´t match up to the way he was around Mikey.

He knew siblings. They were loud and obnoxious and sure, if they were the loyal kind they´d be there for you when you needed them. But his half-brothers were barely even that, and they sure as hell didn´t care where Chris was right now. Sometimes he´d wonder if they had even noticed him leave. Other night's he´d try forgetting what they looked like just because he might as well use the brain space for something useful.

His mother used to tell him not to worry about them, that they we like an old man trying to read without his glasses on: all the pages looked the same when you couldn´t see what they were on about.

Not to mention, the two in front of him were polar opposites, as brothers tend to be, but to an extreme that would have most older siblings pulling their hair out and shipping the other off to china in a cardboard box labelled ¨this side up¨.

Mikey had this restlessness to him, always moving about, ten paces in front of everyone else as if he had springs under his shoes. He´d been running circles around them both all morning, finding a childlike amusement in splashing through the shallow puddles the rain had left behind. He was never quiet about it though, Brad wasn´t even sure that Mikey was the kind of kid who could ever enjoy personal space, he was either asking him questions or making fun of Raph in an innocent kid brother way that just made his older brother´s eyes roll. And if he secretly wanted to grumble and tell him to go annoy someone else it didn´t show.

He thought that he might even like that about the kid, that he was funny without ever being mean, that he could mock someone without them taking it to heart. Then he would remember how annoying the kid was and the thought would pass.

Then he´d look at Raph. The only way the guy could get any stiffer would be if he were to look medusa directly in the eyes. He walked at his own pace and didn´t seem to be much of a conversationalist, but _that_ he´d expected. What he _didn't_ expect was the cautious way he´d glance up at his younger brother every time he´d run too far ahead, or the way he´d ruffle his hair just to shut him up, or the way they seemed to have a language that was all their own. Kind of like the way a team communicates on a field, through winks and looks and head nods that to anyone else could mean absolutely anything.

He knew that no one messed with his brothers, he´d made that pretty clear that day on the field, but he hadn´t expected them to actually get along. Love always just seemed to be implied in siblinghood, not actually shown.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that some siblings even got along at all.

¨maybe¨ he figured was as good of a reply as any. ¨we move around a lot¨

It´s not like he was trying to be a jerk, he just knew this guy had a reputation, one that included being best buds with the notorious Casey Jones. And the last thing he needed right now was to get in with the wrong kind of people, not when he had a father that was known for notorious friends of his own.

¨you know anyone ´round here or…¨his head snapped up before he could finish his sentence ¨Mikey, hand outta the dumpster, now!¨ he shook his head with a face that clearly said ´how are we related?´ but carried on talking utterly unsurprised ¨so?¨

¨pretty sure my cousin Xever will be in most of my classes, so there´s that¨ he shrugged, something short and meaning to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

¨Xever. Yeah, think I've got that guy in English¨ he nodded, and he was starting to realize that they were both sort of awkward and uncomfortable, but at least _he_ was making an effort. ¨so… Mike told me you were there when I got kicked off the team¨ he rubbed the back of his neck.

Well, it was out there. Which probably explained why he was being so chatty in the first place.

¨probably tried to convince ya I'm actually some sort of huggable teddy bear too, ha?¨ he smirked in that way that meant he knew his brother well enough not to need an answer. And that kind of made him smile too, in a ´boy you got that kid pegged´ sort of way at least. ¨yeah, he does that. Slight exaggeration but you got nothin´ to worry about. Only time I get like that these days is when my bro´s are involved¨

¨who said I was worried?¨

¨everyone´s worried ´bout me and Casey¨ he smirked ¨least they used to be. Most of em know better by now¨

He nodded. He could understand that. He just didn´t have much faith in people who said they could change for the better.

¨for what it´s worth, If I had brothers like yours¨ he looked up to see Mikey walking over to them, yawning into his hand like he´d wiped himself out already ¨id have done the same thing¨

* * *

Casey spotted Mikey in the passing period after his English class, a tiny mop of golden curls in an unruly sea of seniors, but it wasn´t that which captured his attention, it was the fact that his face was buried in a book. Not even a fantasy book, the only kind he could really imagine the little guy ever reading, things full of heroes and villains and tons of other crazy unbelievable things that probably made up the inside of the Mikester´s mind.

As he got closer he realised it was the little guys´ math book, which made things even more suspicious. Mikey wasn´t a bad student, but he was the kind of guy that if he didn´t find the subject interesting, would be prone to passing notes or sketching alien robots with his pink highlighter right in the middle of class. And Mikey and Math definitely had no place in each other's lives.

¨If you´re looking for a dirty joke you´re not gonna find one in there¨ he said, slinging an arm around his neck, but by the not so manly squeal Mikey let out as he jumped about three feet into the air it hadn´t come across quite as amusing as he´d planned.

¨Casey!¨ he sighed, letting out a relieved breath, which kind of surprised him. Mikey was usually the one unexpectedly jumping out at people with surprise hugs and pitiful tackles. ¨not cool, dude. And that´s totally gross¨ he brought a finger up to his face, scant inches from the hockey player´s undoubtedly crooked nose. Casey smacked it away gently, reaching up to ruffle the baby of the group's hair.

News in their little group travelled fast and had a way of creating a collective sort of worry, so when he brushed the curls out of Mikey´s face to reveal two black rimed eyes he thought back to what Raph had told him earlier that morning.

Between complaining about Mona´s parents and the fact that he had to pick up an extra shift that weekend He´d mentioned not being able to get any sleep that night because of Mikey´s incessant tossing and turning.

¨wow, jumpy much?¨ but all he got in return was an eye roll as he once again buried his face in a pink alien robot covered math book. ¨seriously what´s with the book, you having trouble with math or something?¨ he tucked his hands into his pockets, looking off into the crowd in front of them. He wasn´t really the brains of the group, maybe in street smarts, a title he´d earned through years of scuffed knuckles and black eyes, a period of his life that was long and thankfully over. But when it came to book smarts everyone in the group and in the most desperate occasions people from outside it too knew exactly who to turn to.

¨why don´t you just ask Donnie?¨ he shrugged, because it was the best school advice he figured he could give.

Mikey just shrugged, and for the first time Casey realized there was definitely something off. You didn´t need to be a genius to realize there was something wrong with a friend. He wasn´t just jumpy, he was quiet. Mikey didn´t do quiet. And he knew that if he was feeling his normal self he would have at least vowed to get his revenge on him for scaring the bejeebees outta him by now. Now that´s what Mikey did do: pranks, he was the prankmaster, which sure, was unnerving and annoying and usually meant you were going to get laughed at for a long while, but right now… it was making him think way harder that he wanted to right before chemistry.

¨He´s been busy, I guess¨ which wasn´t exactly a lie, he had been, but Mikey knew better than anyone his brothers would drop their plans like lead if Mikey needed them to. ¨plus he has enough to worry about with Stockman on his case all the time¨

¨yeah that guy seems like a giant…¨he paused, rethinking the colorful words he´d be saying if he had been talking to Raph instead.

¨a total nooddlebrain¨ Mikey filled in with one of his cheesy smiles that sort of eased something in the hockey player's chest. Mikey was growing up fast and without warning and his brothers didn't lie it one bit, which sure seemed a little cray at fourteen, but either way, Casey was not about to be the one who got him into cussing. Not when he´d miss out on the weird things Mikey considered to be insulting.

¨took the words right outta my mouth, kiddo¨ he mocked in his own secret way that Mikey never seemed to pick up on, but to his surprise he shot right back.

¨wasn´t _that_ hard, you´re missing enough teeth¨ he grinned that supposedly wicked grin that just came out teasing and mischievous on Mikey's face.

¨you know the girls dig it¨

Mikey's smile seems to flood the room, filling every nuck and cranny like some sort of liquid glow. And even though he hasn´t slept all night and it feels like Casey knows something he shouldn't, which let's face it, meant that so did Raph, he just let himself relax a little as the headed down the hallway, Casey´s arm wrapped around his shoulders the whole way.

* * *

Mikey hadn´t been paying attention when he went flying backwards, colliding bodily with what he could only imagine was a strong chest and probably looking like a clown slipping on a banana peel. And when two strong hands grabbed him around the shoulders it wasn´t just reflex that had him flipping around with a start, it was fear.

He´d been scanning the cafeteria through blurry eyes, searching for his table when a rather aerodynamic slice of pizza came flying past him, scant inches from his cheek. And it didn´t take much more than knowing his friends to realise that yep, he confirmed with a sideways glance, it had come from his table. And just when he thought he´d evaded the grease grenade he went flying backwards, peperoni and cheese glued to the bottom of his favourite pair of sneakers.

The second he flipped around, his shoulders visibly slumped as realization washed over him. He was met with tired but friendly eyes, more worried than friendly at the moment to be honest, and the hands hovering in front of him were scarred and familiar and had Mikey wondering how bad someone had to be to get hit by LH in the first place.

¨Michelangelo, are you allright?¨ his hands were still out, as if he were expecting Mikey to drop straight into them any second.

He couldn't really blame the guy either, Mikey looked terrible. He hadn´t even woken up that morning, He´d just slept clean through the night, playing sewer surfer on his phone and counting how many times Raph snored per minute until the alarm finally went off. So he´d spent most of the day hiding his panda eyes under his fringe and trying to stay away from the worrywarts also known as his family and friends. He figured the less time he spent with them the less chances they had of figuring anything out.

¨Michelangelo¨ he was still saying his name, but to Mikey it sounded as if he were hearing it from underwater. ¨what is it?¨ he was sort of bending down now, concerned but cautious in that way that meant he thought he might be overstepping his boundaries. If only his brothers had any clue what boundaries were, that would have made this whole thing a hell of a lot easier.

He´d never really had trouble sleeping before. He´d spend so much of his day bouncing up and down and chatting everyone around him to death that it just made sense that he´d be kind of wiped out at the end of it. But lately…

Every time he closed his eyes he would see it, pale white canvasses dripping with blood, dark empty eyes staring at him through a ruined face and a voice whispering: ¨tell your brothers I said hi¨

Mikey shivered, and rubbed his arms through the thick sleeves of Raph´s oversized Metallica hoodie, which looked anything but ordinary on him.

He didn´t want to tell his brothers. He didn´t want them to have anything to do with this guy. Not that _he_ did. That he knew of. He didn´t even know what he knew, but he was pretty sure that if a kind stranger had requested he say hi to his brothers for him he would have probably forgotten about it by now. But there was nothing kind or even human about this guy, so now for the first time in a long time Mikey had himself wondering if maybe he had a little instinct after all.

¨LH! Dude you´re actually out of your cave!¨ he smiled as wide as he could manage, just earning a confused look from his friend in return.

¨erm…¨ he still looked kind of unsure, pinning him with that unconvinced concerned look that reminded him of Leo in almost every possible scenario ¨yeah, I was just heading back actually¨ he tapped the water bottle sticking out of his hoodie pocket, finally managing a smile that came out kind of forced.

¨what?!¨ He bellowed and by the startled look on his friend´s face as he glanced around the room he hadn´t said it very quietly. He knew LH was anything but a social butterfly and that the rumors, whichever of them were true had followed him to what he probably thought was his fresh start. But Mikey decided he liked him that first day they had spoken in the library, and that was that.

Leatherhead worried too much, he decided and getting a firm grip on his hand, started to drag him across the room.

Anyone who cared to look around, which was basically the entire cafeteria, could have seen the dread in Leatherheads eyes, had they been looking for it. had they not been judging him instead ¨Mikey, I don´t think this is a good…¨ but by that time it was too late, they were standing in front of his table, all eyes pinned on them and Mikey could care a lot less when it came to attention so he ignored them and pointed to his friend instead.

Mona, who was usually sitting on Raph´s lap or close enough to him that she might be absorbed, had her back to him, leaving as much room as possible between them as she chatted amiably to April. Donnie was busy with homework, scribbling away at his notebook as Casey and Raph poked and prodded at him, trying to rope him into the conversation somehow.

Then there were Mikey´s friends, Mondo, Napoleon and Woody, sitting at the end of the table with a book they had most likely swiped from Donnie spread out in front of them. They weren´t old friends, he´d met them a year ago, but they might as well have been. Sometimes it felt like he knew them better than he knew himself. Which is probably why he knew for a fact that those three hadn´t opened a book in their life and the only reason they had now was probably because they had just launched a not so subtle slice of pizza across the room.

Mikey didn´t really know why, but seeing Brad sitting alongside his friends, gave him some weird sort of relief. He wasn´t quite smiling yet, but he was nodding along with Raph and Casey´s conversation and Xever was right by his side, patting him on the back and giving him one of those shakes friends do when they're trying to tell you to lighten the heck up.

What he didn´t know was what was about to happen.

¨hey guys, you know LH, right?¨ he pointed to his friend, like an artist revealing his latest piece.

All eyes turned on them, he wouldn´t say shocked, but maybe a little surprised. April was the first to crack a friendly smile and Raph and Casey nodded, probably out of habit.

It wasn´t until he glanced towards Brad that every inch of relief his brothers and sister had given him was sucked out of his body and replaced with a huge knot, tumbling and tightening inside his stomach. He jumped to his feet, pushing the bench and everyone still sitting on it back scant inches. It made Mikey jump, and the way that Xever jumped up and rapped a restraining hand around his arm wasn´t helping to ease his worry.

Brad stood in a slow, towering way, and shaking his arm free of his friends grip made his way towards them with that disarming downwards scowl that had Mikey´s eyes darting towards his brothers for some sort of security. But they couldn´t see his face, they couldn´t see his razor sharp stare, pinned on LH, pinned on his friend. And just like Mikey, they had no idea what was about to happen.

But when he looked back at LH, hoping some of the fear would shake free and fall away, his heart kicked up a notch, hammering hard against his chest. For all the sweetness and charm he usually found in his friend every inch of it was gone, and instead he looked entirely guilty, his eyes drawn to the floor, hands tucked into his pockets and looking like he wanted to turn and run.

Mikey didn´t blame the guy.

¨yeah, we´ve met¨ he broke the silence, still eyeing his friend with that chilling look. ¨get away from him while I still let you¨ but he wasn´t talking to Mikey.

LH seemed to be frozen under his gaze, his hands in shaking fists now and no matter how hard he tried he wouldn´t meet Mikey´s eyes. ¨Leatherhead…? ¨ Mikey´s voice was something pleading, he had no idea what was going on, but he´d never seen someone so huge ever look so vulnerable.

Brad let out a bitter chuckle, tipping his head back slightly. ¨Leatherhead? ¨ He still wasn´t looking at Mikey. ¨is that what he told you LH stands for? ¨ His voice sounded different, something coarse and sharp at the same time.

And for the first time in his life, Mikey had no idea who to turn to.


End file.
